By Patrick Hoyos From The Broad Street Journal

What happens when you bring four or five articulate, knowledgeable, passionate, dedicated architectural heritage advocates together to discuss the restoration of Barbados’ built heritage? A sixth arrives.

A meeting of like minds attracts other like minds, and so it was that the Task Force on the Restoration of Barbados’ Built Heritage found itself with Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber as a co-patron.

If you grew up, as I did, with the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber ringing in your ears, you would still have no idea how passionate he is about architecture, especially the preservation of historic buildings.

To hear him speak, once you have discounted the Henry Higgins (as opposed to Eliza Dolittle) British accent, you might think you were hearing Sir Henry Fraser, or Paul Altman, or Dr. Karl Watkins – incidentally, all members of that task force. It is shocking, shocking to me that such an eminent group could have been brought together – and actually listened to – by the current administration, which some unkind writer(s) may have referred to in previous columns as the “Dolittle” (no family to Eliza) Administration.

The most important thing the task force did was to set up a trust to receive charitable donations for the restoration projects undertaken by its brainchild, the National Restoration Programme (NRP). This trust – the Preservation (Barbados) Foundation Trust (PBFT) – will be the bank for the projects of the NRP.

The chairman of the task force which produced these two golden eggs was Sir Henry Fraser, (in the interest of full disclosure, a long-time friend of mine) whose recent knighthood was among the most well-deserved, and perhaps, longest overdue in recent memory.

Given the joyous linkage that now exists between what Sir Henry wrought and the arrival on the team of Lord Lloyd-Webber, I thought we could try to re-write the lyrics to one of the latter’s musicals to celebrate it, perhaps calling it Sir Henry and His Amazing, Technicolor Streetscape. Or maybe The Phantom of the Great House. Or – but this may be over the top – Henry Fraser Superstar. (I have a feeling he might like that one).

The thing about Sir Henry is that he also listens to the most amazing people in terms of architecture as well as bringing their own areas of specialization to bear on the issue.

You’ve got your Paul Altman, a real estate genius who has not only spearheaded bright, shining palaces like Limegrove Lifestyle Centre, but very quietly has spent many years raising money for and refurbishing historic places like the Jewish Synagogue, which now has its own place of remembrance, the Nidhe Israel Museum, and is set to undergo a major expansion as well.

And you have also got your Karl Watson, a historian par excellence, a writer and editor beyond par, and the president of the Barbados National Trust. Dr. Watson’s expertise is certainly not limited to the built environment we most quickly associate with heritage tourism – the great houses, the chattel houses, the public buildings, the forts and churches – but it goes much farther back to the time when Caribs and Arawaks lived here. Excavating for foundations and find a clay spoon buried deep below the surface? Who you gonna call? Dr. Watson.

Then comes Lord Lloyd-Webber, whose enthusiasm for the best of the built heritage of his homeland has led him to host an annual Oscars-type awards ceremony for those he calls the “angels” of restoration – people in communities who have gotten together, with no government help, to raise funds and restore old heritage properties in their towns and neighborhoods. In fact, he has offered to fund a similar programme right here in Barbados, separate and distinct from his work as co-patron of the restoration programme and its trust.

On Monday night I asked Sir Henry to tell me why he has been, for over thirty years now, such a promoter of Barbados’ architectural “treasures”, as he likes to call them. Let me close today by giving him the last word:

“Our heritage is very rich and heritage tourism is the fastest-growing aspect of tourism in the whole world. Everybody who understands tourism is working very hard to enrich their heritage product (both built and cultural). But for many people, when they think cultural heritage, all their think about is cou-cou and flying fish and getting down, but that is one very tiny aspect, the behavioral aspect, of heritage.

“Our built heritage is hugely important. There are many other parts of the whole heritage package other than Farley Hill and St. Nicholas Abbey. The fact is, we have got 75 historic churches, we have got four lighthouses, of which some are very remarkable, we have mansion house, we have forts, we have iconic and unique Barbados chattel houses – we have a vast built heritage that has never been marketed as part of our tourism product.”

On Bridgetown:

“We’ve got jewels dotted around between modern rubbish and derelict buildings. So Bridgetown basically comprises three aspects – the treasures, some of which have been restored; the treasures which are derelict; and the modern, post-war, 1950s-1960s horrible stuff, of which Norman Centre is the prototypical example.

We’ve also got some excellent modern architecture – like the Royal Bank building, which is a superb example of modern architecture which mirrors the Public Buildings next door but which is built largely of glass and concrete. So we’re not without modern stuff that’s quite good, but if we could restore those treasures that were high points in the city before, we would have a critical mass that would be very important.”

For more on this story go to: http://www.broadstreetjournalbarbados.com/commentary-opinion/2015-01-20/henry-fraser-superstar

IMAGE: Andrew Lloyd Webber en.wikipedia.org