Government Projects in British Pensacola and Their Impact Upon the Southeast

Government Projects in British Pensacola and Their Impact Upon the Southeast PHll..JPPE OSZUSCIK University of South Alabama Along the Gulf Coast of the southeastern United States are structures remaining from French, Spanish, and American settlements, yet no buildings are known to survive from the period of British occupation ofWest Florida, even though the British inhabited the region from 1763 to 1781. The era of British colonization is thus the least understood in terms of architectural development and contribution to this region and perhaps to the nation. When the Spanish conquered British West Florida, many buildings and colonial records burned, except those of Pensacola, capital of the parish. All of West Florida was in the hands of the Spanish by 1780 save Pensacola, which held out until May 10, 1781. Pensacola administrators had time to pack up and remove to London original colonial records, including some city, military, and architectural plans.! Primary source material for a study of British architectural developments on the Gulf Coast is provided by the surviving drawings, plans, and other records from Pensacola. When these are considered in the context ofcolonial history from the arrival of British soldiers and their struggle to reorganize the town, possible explanations for architectural developments are suggested. Since the eighteenth-century records are fragile and do not reproduce well, attention in this article will be given to descriptive analyses, including dimensional notations as appropriate. Some of the British projects were renovations of Spanish buildings, and these permit interesting comparisons with new projects built by the British, offering evidence of their assimilation of Creole features, including integral galleries, loggias, and raised structures. 1 The taking of British holdings began when war broke out between Spain and England in 1779. Spain took establishments on the Mississippi in 1779, Mobile in 1780, and Pensacola in 1781. See Isaac John Cox, The West Florida Controversy, 1798-1813: A Study in American Diplomacy (Gloucester MA: Peter Smith, 1967 [1912]), 15. While basic historical data has been available to researchers, architectural historians have not been able to fmd adequate information concerning the architectural developments of the British on the Gulf Coast through American archives. Although original records of Mobile and other towns were not widely preserved, many written records as well as a few city plans, military and government projects from Pensacola are in the Public Records Office (hereinafter designated PRO) in London. These documents of Pensacola not only represent the standards and tastes of the capital, but also those that existed under British rule from Pensacola to the Mississippi River. The records are invaluable for their information about British developments in the United States between 1763 and 1781 since this loyalist colony continued to receive funding for architectural projects when the thirteen colonies were involved in the American Revolution. ARRIS 2: 20-41. 1991 20 OSZUSCIK: GOVERNMENT PROJECfS IN BRITISH PENSACOLA 21 In 1763 the British acquired the southwestern frontier by treaty. Other than a few towns such as Pensacola, Mobile, and Natchez, the land was mainly untouched wilderness. Pensacola itself was underdeveloped since the Spanish maintained only an outpost to watch the French. Consequently trade, commerce, and farming were minimal. When the British advance party sailed into Pensacola harbor in August 1763, they were dismayed at the sight of the former Spanish town and fort (Figure 1).2 The town consisted of about one hundred houses and huts scattered outside the palisaded fort. The fields were uncultivated, and forests extended close to the town. The original plaza, really a small clearing, had been built over by residents who wanted to be as close to the gates as possible for personal safety rather than maintaining the open space for military purposes in case of attack. The original site of Pensacola, Santa Rosa Island, had been laid out according to the Laws of the Indies with a plaza and a grid plan, but when the hurricane of 1752 destroyed the town, refugees went to the Indian mission on the mainland and established Pensacola's present town site with hastily built huts and a lop-sided palisaded fort without establishing a plan according to Spanish law.3 Within five years, the British reorganized the former outpost into a...