victorian architecture

this is a picture of a victorian style home in puerto plata. it is actually somewhat of a mish-mash of styles and not fully victorian, but it was the best image i could find (on flickr.com). the las terrazas condo complex in sosua is victorian style, as is the victorian beach front condos that juan is building in east cabarete. each time i go to the las terrazas complex, i wonder how and why victorian architecture came to be popular here in the DR? the DR was never ruled by england. the spanish discovered it (through christopher columbus of course) and fought with the french quite often over it. i think the english tried a bit to take it over but never got very far either. so how does it come to be that the victorian style architecture is often seen and used here?

i finally got around to researching this on the web, though i was only able to come up with one article on it. again, we have no bookstore here, so it's not as though i can find out more that way. anyway, it turns out that the dominicans used this style of architecture as means of asserting their sovereignty from spain. by using a style of architecture completely different from that of spain, the dominicans were rebelling against that former colonial power that had ruled them for so long.

it also turns out that the victorian bungalow as a home and architectural style was actually first used in india when great britain ruled that country. the "white man" needed a home that was suitable for a tropical climate, and so the victorian style bungalow was born.ironically the dominicans see the victorian style as a sign of sovereignty while the indians (of india) see it as a sign of imperialism.

unfortunately the article really does not say who exactly started the victorian style movement in the DR - in terms of a specific person. perhaps that is not so easy to pinpoint, but it would be interesting to know how that style actually became known to the dominicans. most likely it came from books or people who arrived by ship to this caribbean island.

puerto plata has many examples of victorian style buildings. most of them are fairly run down, but i do think there are some in decent condition. next time we go to puerto plata, i'll take some pictures of the architecture there and post them. i know that i always marvel at how nice the buildings could be there, if only they had been taken care of. sames goes for the buildings in santo domingo in the colonial zone, though that is typical spanish architecture.

i have to say that at first i did not like the victorian style. it seemed a bit "prudish", not very islandy, and totally out of place here. in the end, my observation of being totally out of place was correct and was intentional by the dominicans. i have actually come around to the style now and like it.

if you are interested in learning more about how the victorian bungalow came to be here, check out page 7 of this pdf document: http://www.indianfolklore.org/pdf/newsletter/ifl_01.pdf