Magnificent Seven (Port of Spain)
The Magnificent Seven is a group of seven mansions located west of the Queen's Park Savannah in northern Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago[1] on Maraval Road in the St Clair neighborhood.
They were built between 1902 and 1910 on land that was previously used as a government stock farm and are listed as heritage sites at the National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago.
Hayes Court, a French Colonial style building, has contemporary Scottish cast iron elements and traditional Demerara windows.
The properties are listed by the National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago as examples of the "city's remarkable architectural heritage.
[1] The mansions around the Savannah are often forced into European terms to describe the architectural styles but really they are all eclectic, each one trying to outdo the others...
[4] George Brown of the Trinidad Trading Company, who built Mille Fleurs,[5] did much of the rebuilding after the fire and is responsible for much of the metalwork used in the city at that time.
[4] Queen's Royal College, a National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago listed building, was built on the corner of St Clair Avenue and Maraval Road beginning 11 November 1902, when the foundation stone was placed by the acting governor of the day, Sir Courtney Knollys.
An anonymous gift was made in 1908 by two men to pay for the construction of the building, which was built in a French Colonial architectural style.
The design incorporates contemporary Scottish cast iron elements in decorative beams and columns for the veranda, which wrap around all but the west side of the house.
Dr Prada oversaw the construction of the French Provincial house by George Brown of the Trinidad Trading Company.
The National Trust states, "Although Mille Fleurs is less ostentatious as some of its neighbours, the quality of finish and detailing is perhaps of a far higher quality; the intricately carved balusters and the marble treads and risers to both the main and secondary staircases, the elaborate cast iron columns and brackets."
[10] The building, designed by an Irish architect in an Indian Empire architectural style, had a chapel and sacristy on the first floor.
The property had a summer house and stables, which was accessed by an extended gallery on the west side of the main building.
Originally called Rosenweg, it was built by Joseph Leon Agostini, a cocoa planter, based upon his design plans.
It was a three-storied building with four reception halls, a library, drawing room, wine cellars, and large galleries.
[12] Agostini died in 1906, but his family occupied the house until they were unable to make payments on the mortgage and it was foreclosed by William Gordon Grant in 1910, according to the National Trust.
[11] Some believe that the Agostinis never lived in White Hall, because the cocoa industry, which was strong when construction began, collapsed while the house was being built.
[13] An American, Robert Henderson, purchased the house and renamed it White Hall, for the coral stone exterior of the building.
"[11] Henderson's heirs, the Seigert family, possessed the house until World War II, when it was commandeered by the United States Forces as the Air Raid Precaution headquarters.
[12] Stollmeyer's Castle, also called Killarney, is a Scottish Baronial style residence located at 31 Maraval Road.
It is named for Charles Fourier Stollmeyer, who hired the Scottish architect Robert Gillies to design the house, which is said to be patterned after a wing of Balmoral Castle.
[2] The property, like White Hall, was commandeered by the United States Forces, who called it "The Castle", during World War II.
After the war, it stayed within the Stollmeyer family until 1972, when it was bought by an insurance executive, Jessy Henry A Mahabir.
