Accounting for Lady Nugent’s Creole House

In 1801, Lady Maria Nugent moved to the island of Jamaica and provided what was to become one of the most vivid and detailed accounts of daily life in the Caribbean at the turn of the nineteenth century. Jay Edwards notes that Lady Nugent was one of the first to use the term “Creole house” to designate a specific building type consisting of a European-derived geometric core surrounded on all four sides by narrower spaces. However, by defining the Creole house, it is possible to explore the complex cultural and social implications of “Creole” on the architectural form. The term Creole has come to mean not only a language, a person, or a way of life but also field of study encompassing the entire Caribbean. Because definitions of Creole are often broad and contradictory, it is imperative to understand exactly what Lady Nugent signifies by using the term. This paper builds Lady Nugent’s definition with the support of other contemporary sources and defines Creole house by analyzing material remains of specific houses. Lady Nugent’s use of the term Creole also reveals historic connotations different from the current definition; thus, her conception of a Creole house cannot be encapsulated in a simple building form.