Two buildings that enhance downtown Kingston

Very special public-administration buildings are situated face to face on two King Street sites: between Barry Street and Tower Street. They are prominent structures, officially referred to as Public Building East and Public Building West.

Both buildings are more than a century old, but they command a more stately presence than latter-day government buildings within the downtown precinct. Indeed, their prestige within the precinct is exceeded only by the building that accommodates the nearby Parish Church, but some other religious sanctuaries are also in the category of high-prestige designation.

Public Building East — accommodates the pinnacle of legal proceedings in Jamaica, referring to the Supreme Court, which has been a powerful magnet that attracts the presence of numerous law offices in nearby streets and lanes.

Public Building West — was the location of the General Post Office and the main Telegraph Office of the island at a time when ‘hands-on’ postage of mail and the ‘sending’ and ‘receiving’ of paper telegrams were the supreme methods of ‘delivering’ private communications to local and foreign addresses. Public Building West also accommodated the Accountant General’s Department.

After the 1907 earthquake had destroyed “virtually all buildings south of Parade”, ideal plots of land on both sides of King Street were acquired for the purpose of constructing high-profile government offices.

The site plan of the project was an urban-design success. A highlight of the general layout was placement of the frontages of both buildings at appropriate distances ‘inwards’ from the sidewalk of King Street. That site-planning arrangement, which incorporates generous space for meaningful landscaping, is still a pleasant interlude that enables visual relief along a street dominated by concrete surfaces.

STRUCTURAL DESIGN SPECIFICATION

Technical proposals for the public-buildings project during the very early 20th century included a then recent structural-design specification that was developed and perfected in France less than two decades before the massive 1907 earthquake in Jamaica. That innovation was a structural-engineering system for the best location of steel reinforcement in concrete.

Reinforced concrete was the adopted primary specification for construction of Public Building East and Public Building West.

The original form and image of the public buildings should be respected architecturally — or is it too late for that to happen?

The constant need for more office-space by government ministries and departments (including the courts of justice) could overwhelm and distort the stately original features of the ‘classic’ pair of public buildings. That would be the case even if the buildings are deemed to be structurally capable of supporting additional enclosed spaces.

In the downtown Kingston district, the institutionally powerful courts of justice exert positive influences.

The presence of the courts has a sobering impact beyond its perimeter — in a district prone to social aggravation. Nearby private law offices, which have an obvious close relationship with the courts, also impact the downtown district positively. Daily patronage of diverse businesses by personnel of law offices sustain the viability of micro-enterprises and other commerce within the precinct. The law offices, which are generally in good physical condition, are role models for the physical upgrade of dilapidated and abandoned premises.

Positive side effects and ‘trickle-down’ benefit to the precinct has been the impact of the courts. Clearly, the two outstanding government buildings of King Street — referring to the Public Building East and Public Building West — do contribute meaningfully to the enhancement of downtown Kingston.

Neil Richards is an architect and town planner.