Philatelic Photograph: Public Buildings - Bridgetown, Barbados

Interesting Places I've Photographed

Public Buildings

 Bridgetown, Barbados 

Topic: Philatelic Photographs

GPS: N13° 05.753; W059° 36.852

Quick Description: 

This stamp issued in 1950 depicts the view looking north from across the harbor to the public buildings in downtown Bridgetown, Barbados.

Long Description:

The Constitution River, locally called "The Careenage", flows through Bridgetown, passes under the Chamberlain Bridge into the Bridgetown Harbor. The stamp depicts the view looking due north from a vantage point on the embankment on the south side of the harbor near the south end of the Chamberlain Bridge. The clock tower of the old Parliament Building complex is directly in view. To the right beyond the green fence are the other Public Buildings.

The Neo-Gothic, coral limestone, Public Buildings were completed in 1874 to accommodate the Houses of Parliament, to provide centralized public offices for Secretary, the Colonial Treasurer, the Auditor General, the Accountant General, the Postmaster-General, the Comptroller of Customs, the Provost Marshal and the Director of Education and to safely store Barbados' Public Records.

The Public Buildings, the north end of the Chamberlain Bridge, and the place where the north embankment of the harbor turns 90 degrees south can be seen on both the photograph and the stamp. Since 1950, a utility structure has been added to the north west part of the Chamberlain Bridge. Beyond is Cenotaph, which is barely visible on the stamp, but can no longer be seen from this spot due to this new structure.

The stamp was issued on May 1, 1950 as part of a 12 stamp set of pictorial definitive stamps. It's personally gratifying to finally get to visit, 60 years later, the scene you remember seeing as a young boy on a bi-colored British Colony postage stamp.