Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
The new Oakton House in Half-Way Tree, St. Andrew, Jamaica.
ONE FURIOUS century of building has left Jamaica with many structures inspired by the Georgian period in England (c 1702 to 1910).
At Oakton House in Half Way Tree, St. Andrew, one can almost hear the sound of carriage wheels clattering over cobbled streets, horses neighing and the cracking whip of the cloaked coach driver.
The old residence, erected in the mid-19th century, is centrally located in Half Way Tree at the corner of Hagley Park Road and Maxfield Avenue. Since construction, the house has been home and residence to a variety of persons and purposes.
In the 1930s it was sold to the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation and used as a fire station until the 1960s. It has also served as a guest house and a school. Oakton House was at one time a travellers' rest for soldiers from Spanish Town. The military men, marching from the first capital to their camp in the Blue Mountains to escape, would find rest and refreshment at this spot.
No record has been found of the original owner, but at one time, Oakton House was an exclusive school run by a Miss Bovell. Later,a Miss Woolenburg ran it as a guest house in the 1920s.
After the first years as a guest house, it then became the house of W.E. Powell whose famous bakery was a short distance away from the present clock tower.
In the 1930s, he sold it to the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation which used it as a fire station and more recently, their traffic department.
Refurbishing
Currently, the structure is in the possession of Burger King franchisees who have been responsible for refurbishing it.
The wooden house has a gracefully arching dual stairway which is supported by well-designed red brick archways
The structure is typically Georgian, well balanced with louvred windows, side verandahs, timber columns, wooden jalousies and sash windows. The floors are made of wood.
Fretted transoms inside and outside over the doors are unusually geometric in design and very clean cut. The building is thoroughly functional with louvred walls and a side verandah with wide overhangs to keep off both sun and rain.
A red brick undercroft was originally open with arches on all sides to create natural ventilation beneath the wooden flooring and living quarters above.
Information source: Jamaica National Heritage Trust files.
