Nostalgia 565 – Saga of Regent Road and Street
By Godfrey Chin
Website: http://godfreychin.com/book.php E-mail: godchin2@gmail.com
click for websiteGodfrey Chin - "Nostalgias"
Regent Road and Street, with pavements on either side of the causeway, running east to west, from Water St to the Botanic Garden’s entrance divides the Capital City of Georgetown, into northern and southern halves. Camp St, running north to south diagonally across, divides the City in to four quarters. Together with Crown, Princess, King, and Charlotte, the names of these streets, reflect our subjugation to the English Monarchial system, as the City evolved from Stabroek, under the Dutch in 1812. Wellington and Waterloo Sts, remind us that the victory over Napoleon Bonaparte, 1815, saved us from speaking ‘french’ today.
The City Hall which opened July 1, 1889, designed by Father Ignatius Scoles, a trained architect, is acclaimed to be the most handsome building in the City. Victorian exuberance in timber, it is resplendent Gothic Revival Architecture, reflecting the Gothic buildings of Great Britain, such as Westminster Hall, in London. The superior acoustics of the main Concert Hall was the venue of major Concerts and recitals before the National Cultural Centre opened 1973 for Carifesta. The Police Male Voice Choir held its debut Concert there, while many of the visiting International and Guyanese Artistes including Ray Luck, performed there. Ironically, decorated with thousand of bulbs as a Disneylike fairy Castle for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, in 1953 – the City Council cash strapped today, is in serious arrears with their ‘electric bills’…Picture of Town hall illuminated June 1953. Continue reading
