Mille Fleurs report soon

WHETHER or not the historic building known as Mille Fleurs can be saved will be established by a dilapidation report currently being compiled by Cuban experts, Udecott chairman Noel Garcia told Newsday today.

He did not yet have word as to whether the house had suffered any damage during the August 21 earthquake, but expected to soon have details from an ongoing survey.

Newsday asked about Mille Fleurs' steady deterioration over the years, even before the quake struck.

Mille Fleurs, which is owned by the State, is one of the buildings around the Savannah known as the Magnificent Seven, but has been unusable owing to years of neglect.

Garcia replied, “Mille Fleurs is something we are debating, and that’s why we are having the dilapidation survey done. Is it possible to save it, or should it be demolished? We are awaiting the report being done from Cuban experts.” He expected the report by month-end.

“It will tell us what to do, try to save it or demolish it. My sense is we have to do a combination of some selective demolition, but by and large, my sense is we could save most of the building.

"But let us wait for the report from the experts, as I am not a restoration expert.”

Garcia listed the post-quake state of other historic buildings.

He said an assessment of Whitehall had showed "no structural damage.”

“At Stollmeyer’s Castle, there is a small crack over the southeastern part of the building. We looked at it. It was deemed non-structural, but the crack would be repaired.

“In terms of President’s House, we observed some minor cracking in the walls, but these walls were scheduled to be demolished anyway. But there wasn’t any major damage in President’s House.”

Part of President's House collapsed in May 2010 and the building was not usable for years before that.

Garcia said Udecott had next checked the Red House. "There was absolutely no cracking or any damage, structural or superficial.” He said the Red House has an advantage in having been recently had a structural retrofit to be quake-resistant, even before the current renovation had got under way. Restoration work is due to be complete by November.

“In terms of the Heritage Library (the old Public Library on Knox Street), we have not unearthed any cracking.

“So the historical buildings, save and except for some minors cracks at President’s House and one crack at Stollmeyer – they got away virtually unscathed.

"This was unlike the two cathedrals, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and the Trinity Cathedral, which had extensive structural damage.”