once more, as urban transformation and major political and social upheavals pushed wealthier residents further outward and upward—to new suburbs at even higher elevations, such as Pétionville. Consequently, while some Gingerbread properties in the older neighborhoods of Bois-Verna, Turgeau, Deprez, Pacot, and Bas Peu de Choses have remained intact and continue to serve as residences, many others were altered physically and functionally as their owners moved out. Large lots composed of a single house and surrounding garden were subdivided to accommodate new construction as these neighborhoods densified. With the additional increase in rural migration into Port-au-Prince, densification continued through the 1980s, when the city’s population approached one million inhabitants, and into the twenty-first century.[21] By 2009, the once-privileged and spacious historical retreats of the wealthy classes had undergone an extensive socioeconomic transformation. In conjunction with the declining affluence of residents, the existing building stock deteriorated. Many of the Gingerbread houses suffered from a lack of maintenance, and periodic hurricanes, termites, and water infiltration took their tool. Simultaneously, infill construction made these neighborhoods more dense, and many of the Gingerbread houses underwent alterations or additions (often in concrete). The use of many of these houses also changed from strictly residential to accommodate the needs of institutions, commercial enterprises, and schools that have moved into these neighborhoods to meet the evolving needs of residents. Such conversions began as early as the 1930s (e.g. the conversion of Villa Sam to commercial use as Hotel Oloffson in 1935), and have accelerated since the 1950s.[22]
1980s
Continued densification.
According to the research that Lisandre Jardon carried out on the Gingerbreads as part of her master’s thesis at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, the identification of a Gingerbread is not determined by its use or function; rather it is the architectural and stylistic language that characterizes it.[23] Their character-defining features include tall ceiling heights as a climatic response, abundant and intricate decoration, especially on the roofs where the house meets the sky, and galleries or porches which represent important intermediate spaces that provide shade and a space to congregate.[24] Thus, there is indeed a diversity in the buildings that can be called Gingerbreads, which feature a variety of sizes and uses as reflective of the history and development of the neighborhoods in which they are found.
1930s-2015
Previous Gingerbread Efforts.
1975
The brief vignettes and simple sketches of the Gingerbread houses of Haiti by the American Anghelen Arrington Phillips in 1975 offered one of the first catalogues that examined the unique aesthetic of these structures. While Phillips only sketched a limited number of houses, her work provided an important service by beginning to document the rich history of these buildings and their owners. However, little effort was made to further document them until a survey of the Gingerbread houses was conducted in the early 1980s by the National Tourism Board (Office National du Tourisme) and the Institute for the Preservation of National Heritage (Institut de Sauvegarde du Patrimoine National—ISPAN).[25] This inventory identified and photographed nearly 800 historic structures throughout the city of Port-au-Prince, illustrating the prevalence of this typology in the historically less-dense neighborhoods of Pacot, Bois Verna, and Turgeau. Interest in the Gingerbread houses of Port-au-Prince resurfaced in 2009, driven by both the appreciation for their historical and aesthetic values as well as concern for their steady disappearance. In October of 2009, the Gingerbreads were nominated to the 2010 World Monuments Watch by Conor Bohan, Executive Director of the Haitian Education and Leadership Program
Physical and functional alterations of Gingerbreads.
Anghelen Arrington Phillips publishes her drawings of the Gingerbread houses.
1980
Inventory by ISPAN and the National Tourism Board.
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