From the February 23, 2008 edition of the Trinidad Guardian
By Peter Balroop
Real estate agent Annmarie Aboud, whose job is to sell the gingerbread house for a cool $45 million wants to know what is all the fuss about the building being a national architectural treasure.
Since the building, formally known as the Boissiere house at 12 Queen’s Park West went up for sale, a national furore has erupted from activists who see a slice of T&T’s history as being under real and present danger.
Those who want to preserve Boissiere house were being backed up by the National Trust of T&T, according to chairman Vel Lewis, who is curator of the National Museum. (See story below.)
Lewis confirmed last week, that the National Trust was moving swiftly to have the Boissiere house declared a heritage property.
This would mean, he explained, that while ownership could be changed and the building preserved, by law, there must be no additions or alterations.
Lewis said he understood the building was owned by Greta Elliot.
But Aboud, an executive member of Lifetime Realty, which got the contract from the owner to sell the house, said the move by the National Trust has hit her under the belt.
She said yesterday her job to sell the house to a buyer here at home, or internationally, has now become more difficult.
“If a man is going to spend that amount of money on a property, I would think he would want to be free to do whatever he wanted with it,” she said. “It is the people’s family who built the property. It is their legacy and they want to sell it. Why would people now want to tell you what to do with your property?
“They not giving you money to restore the building, but they want you to hold on to something that is falling apart. “Who are these activists who are now coming to tell us what to do? I am so sick of them,” Aboud said.
Inviting bids
The price was originally US$10 million ($60 million) for international buyers, and $50 million for the local market, but since the uproar began, Aboud decided to drop the asking price to $45 million.
But she added: “Tell them the price is negotiable. I am asking people to make offers, whatever it is, don’t be embarrassed.”
Aboud was reluctant to name the owner, stating that the person did not want publicity.
Lewis said the National Trust was showing concern about the country’s architectural treasures.
He said the council met and agreed that a move would be made to have the Boissiere house declared a heritage property.
This involved making a recommendation to Culture Minister Marlene McDonald to have the Boissiere house gazetted as a heritage property.
Lewis said the owner could object to this happening and appeal to the minister.
The vendor would have to inform potential buyers that a move was on to have Boissiere house so designated (a heritage site), Lewis explained.
He added that people were worried when heritage sites go up for sale, but they could be in private, as well as the hands of the State—the proviso was the same—no major improvements or alterations.
Heritage properties already declared included the Magnificent Seven around the Queen’s Park Savannah; Knowsley which houses the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the National Museum, the Heritage Library building on Knox Street, Port-of-Spain, and the Red House.
The National Trust was working on having other properties like Boissiere house declared as heritage sites.
These, Lewis revealed, include the Lion’s House in
Chaguanas which is the ancestral home of the Capildeos, Fort King
George in Tobago, Fort San Andres on Broadway, Port-of-Spain, Count
Lopinot house, the old La Brea magistrates’ quarters and old
post offices in Mayaro and Sangre Grande.