Chattel House

Chattel Houses: A Dream Vacation Home…

A vacation home: what should it look like? What should it have? Honestly, anything you want. A bed, no bed, a chair, some bricks topped with some down cushions…I just think the ultimate vacation home should transport you to another frame of mind. It should be your idea of relaxation and leisure.

I think Chattel Houses are a great idea for a beautiful vacation home. Meanwhile, my best friend thinks am crazy... I love these colourful homes and the reason they are so perfect is that they are already built and some nice island villager may just agree to sell it to you at the right price. So then all that’s left to be done is for you to call the moving truck and plop the house down on a ½ acre or so of a picturesque patch of countryside or balmy bluff that overlooks a beach. English Garden in the sun anyone? But as you know in the Caribbean we do get some seriously strong hurricanes and to adopt one of these beauties as a home today would require serious reinforcements. But with a good architect and some creative engineering and design instincts it is feasible.

Here are 10 things about Chattel Houses that will help to convince you that I am not crazy and that this idea is feasible.

 Present in almost all Caribbean Islands: The word “chattel” is used in the common law legal system to refer to private or personal property as opposed to real property (real estate); in the civil law legal tradition it is used to mean movable property which was not sold with the land like two cows, a donkey and a couple roosters and hens, for example.

 Movable Property: So Chattel Houses are movable houses in both civil law and common law legal systems? Yes! So in Barbados (common law) and St. Lucia (mixed civil and common law) you could buy a chattel house as a vacation home? Right!

 Originally Used by Slaves and Plantation Workers: These small brightly-coloured houses were set on blocks or rocks and were used to house slaves and later plantation workers.

 Easily Dismantled: It is also true that these houses were originally built using pegs and not nails so that they could be easily dismantled (now of course they're built with nails). Since the plantation workers couldn’t afford the land or the land tax associated with the property they were keen to be able to have a house that they could easily move from one lease-holding to another. Plus, it did help too that if the plantation owner fired you, you could just pack-up, call a donkey and moving cart and call it a day. Genius! No? So imagine how useful they became to plantation workers who could be fired and ordered off the land where they lived without a word’s notice. Perfect recession houses.

 Somewhat Hurricane Resistant: The roofs on these homes were built quite steeply so that the rain could easily seep off and, if you look closely you’ll see that most of the roofs of most of the chattel houses are built with corrugated metal. In Jamaica we just say “zinc roof”---utility here is (supposedly) that the corrugated roofs withstand not just heavy rains but high winds also. Well it does…to an extent it lessens the impact of hurricanes and the slope must have prevented the roofs from blowing off too quickly in hurricanes. Later more modern roofing systems have been used to replace “zinc” roofs on Chattel Houses. The corrugated metal was also used to make additions to the houses, or even fencing around property (and is still used as such today).

 Two or Three Rooms: A typical chattel house is quite modest in terms of square footage and number of rooms. The houses were usually one or two rooms and sported beautiful ornate fretwork, miniature jalousie windows and front patios with carved wooden banisters. If you buy an old Chattel House it will likely have one main room used as a living room, a small bedroom, a little kitchen and a bathroom. Yes, well hello: what else could you possibly need in a vacation home?

 More Commonly Found in Barbados: Most Chattel Houses will be found in Barbados, St. Kitts and Antigua and a few other Eastern Caribbean Islands. You will find more Chattel Houses in Barbados because Barbados is less prone to hurricanes than the other islands.

 Buy one today for 60,000 USD: Original Chattel Houses that have been passed down from generation to generation can be purchased today and are reasonably priced (anywhere from 5,000 USD to 60,000 USD). Of course the price depends on the integrity of the structure (e.g. the condition of the wood), the square footage of the property and the number of rooms it has.

 Build One From Scratch: You can also build a new Chattel House (buy some beautiful Guyanese purpleheart wood and get a good local architect and contractor to do your bidding). A newly built Chattel House could cost anywhere between 15,000 USD and 40,000 USD.

 Sold in Local Papers: The classified ads in the local newspapers are a great starting point in finding a Chattel House for sale. You can also contact local real estate agents or simply take a mini-break and go driving around a couple local villages and test your luck. You never know: someone may just be willing to sell his birthright. If you are thinking of buying a Chattel House or building one I think the best way to start is to buy/rent the land first. I’d say check the local newspapers to gauge the land prices and start from there.

 

Just Imagine the Possibilities...

Still don’t believe in the dream? Get a hold of Lord Glenconner in front of this cute little gingerbread number that he had moved from a mountain village in St. Lucia. Oh and look at the dapper Lord’s digs on his fabulous Beau Estate in St. Lucia. Read more about Lord Glenconner's home in St.Lucia at Architectural Digest.