Trinidad > History > The Magnificent Seven
The seven years, 1903–1909, were truly great years for Trinidad, and their magnificent expression is to be found in the seven beautiful buildings situated immediately to the west of the Queen’s Park Savannah on land of the former St. Clair sugar estate. By 1904, Queen’s Royal College was erected and on the remaining six lots, mansions of a type never before seen in Trinidad began to rise. They were the talk of the town. Known today as “The Magnificent Seven” they are well set in a superb relationship to the Savannah and can be examined from all angles. Larger than life, bold and daring, they sing out the individualism characteristic of the country.
1. Queen’s Royal College The origins of Queen’s Royal College go back to the mid-nineteenth century to the flourishing boys school known as the Stuart Grammar School situated at the corner of Duke and Edward Sts. In 1859, when the Government-sponsored Queen’s Royal Collegiate School was proposed, Mr. Stuart was approached and asked to associate himself with the new enterprise. On 6th April, the new school was opened at the premises of Mr. C.N. Vessiny at the corner of Oxford and Abercromby St., which remained its home until its designation was changed to Queen’s Royal College and the new institution inaugurated at the Prince’s Building in 1870. In 1899, through the intervention of the acting Governor, Sir Courtney Knollys, the southernmost lot of the St. Clair lands giving on the Maraval Road, was reserved for the college, and in 1902, the foundation stone was laid for the new building. In the German Renaissance design, with its fine clock tower, it was constructed under the supervision of the Director of Public Works, Walsh Wrightson, and was opened on March 12, 1904 by the Governor, Sir Alfred Maloney.
2. Hayes Court The Anglican Bishop’s Residence: In 1903, a lot of land on the Maraval Road was purchased by the Anglican Church for the purpose of providing a suitable residence for the Anglican Bishop of Trinidad. After a plan conceived by Mr. Prothero, and with aid received from certain benefactors, building at last got underway, and this residence in a most refined setting, was completed in 1910. In the style of the typical grand town house, with its pretty iron fretwork and pleasant porte cochère giving onto the Savannah, it had both French and English overtones, and was called Hayes Court after Bishop J.T. Hayes who served as Anglican Bishop of Trinidad from 1889–1904.
3. Mille Fleurs Dr. Prada’s Residence: Born in Venezuela in 1867, was Enrique Prada, who at an early age came to Trinidad. Pursuing his education at St. Mary’s College, he concluded by winning the island scholarship in 1884 at which time he was sent to King’s College, London, where he qualified as a Doctor of Medicine. On his return home, he joined the Government service, and was appointed Chief Medical Officer. He became a member of the Legislative Council, where in his day, he ranked as one of the most gifted speakers, and subsequently served three terms as Mayor of Port of Spain. In 1904, his wife made him a present of a charming French provincial-style residence on the Maraval Road, which was built by Mr. Brown of the Trinidad Trading Co., under Dr. Prada’s own supervision, and was christened Mille Fleurs.
4. Mr. Ambard’s Residence Associated with the cocoa industry in Trinidad for many years was the firm of Lucien F. Ambard & Son, which was successor to a concern founded in 1839 by Monsieur André Ambard. A member of one of the oldest and well-respected French families of the colony, Mr. Lucien Ambard constructed this outstanding residence in 1904, in the Baroque style of architecture, after a Parisian Château of the Second Empire, where he lived with his family for many years.
5. The Roman Catholic Archbishop’s Palace At the turn of the century, the official residence of the Roman Catholic Archbishop was at Pembroke Street, on the grounds south of what is today’s St. Joseph’s Convent. In 1903, the Archbishop, Dr. Patrick V. Flood, realizing the need of the convent for expansion, purchased Lot No. 27 on the Maraval Road and prepared for the construction of an official residence. In the Romanesque-Irish style of architecture, with its fine gallery of mediaeval arches, the work was carried out under the supervision of Mr. George Brown of Trinidad Trading Co., and was completed in 1904.
6. Rosenweg — Mr. Agostini’s Residence Arriving from Corsica with his father at an early age was Joseph Léon Agostini, who was soon after sent to Germany to be educated. He became very successful in the sugar and cocoa industries. A public-spirited man, and a leader in the community, he founded the Chamber of Commerce in 1879, and served as its president until 1886. In 1904, he constructed this magnificent residence in the style of a Venetian Palazzo built mostly of Barbados coral limestone. Sadly, Mr. Agostini died a few years later and the property was bought by Robert Henderson who re-christened it Whitehall and had it completely refurnished with the latest that Paris could offer. Over the years it has witnessed many years of sumptuous living.
7. Killarney — Mr. Stollymeyer’s Residence Born in 1813 in the ancient city of Ulm on the frontier of Wurtenburg in Germany, was Conrad Fredrick Stollmeyer who, after spending some time in the U.S. and England, arrived in Trinidad in 1846. Directing his attention to agriculture, and later on to the exploitation of the Pitch Lake, he became very successful in both these ventures. In 1902, his son, Charles Fournier Stollmeyer, had a charming castle constructed by the firm of Taylor and Gillies which he gave to his son Charles Conrad as a wedding present. Scottish in its narrow verticality French- influenced and no doubt German in intent, it was christened after the Irish county of Killarney by Mrs. Stollmeyer, who lived there with her husband until their deaths in the late 1960s.