Bulletin of the ISPAN, No. 26: The Historic Centre of Jérémie and Its Architectural Riches
Summary: Jérémie's architecture set on its long beginning: after the Spanish conquest of 1493 and the disappearance of the Taínos less than fifty years later, the region that is now the Grande-Anse remained marginal for a long time.
Key Findings
- The bulletin is devoted to Jeremie historic center and synthesizes two studies carried out in 2009 by Christophe Charlery and Patricia Balandier, and by Daniel Elie, Philippe Chatelain and Elsoit Colas of ISPAN.
- The article warns that the Les Cayes to Jeremie road, then under construction, would affect Jeremie historic center because it was expected to cross the center and reduce the trip to Les Cayes from six hours to three hours.
- The historical section says a first plan of Trou-Jeremie was drawn in 1750 and a definitive plan in 1756 laid out eleven blocks around a central square.
- The colonial town is described as about 400 m by 300 m, with 65 lots in the plan and 110 houses around 1780.
- The article reports population growth in the region from 2,643 inhabitants in 1751 to 19,000 in 1789, including 1,000 whites, 1,000 freed people and 17,000 enslaved people.
- The building survey states that 48 percent of listed historic-center buildings had one upper floor, 56 percent had half-timbered walls with masonry infill on the ground floor, and 69 percent had galleries.
Full Description
Jérémie's architecture set on its long beginning: after the Spanish conquest of 1493 and the disappearance of the Taínos less than fifty years later, the region that is now the Grande-Anse remained marginal for a long time. One issue of the Bulletin de l'ISPAN, the monthly bulletin of Haiti's Institut de Sauvegarde du Patrimoine National, which ran from June 2009 to at least November 2011 and documented one monument, site or historic center per issue.
How to cite
Institute for the Protection of National Heritage (ISPAN), 2011, Bulletin of the ISPAN, No. 26: The Historic Centre of Jérémie and Its Architectural Riches, https://www.haiti.org/