Ah ... going home. It means so many different things to each of us. Think of the quotations you've heard about "home". Well, I have already quoted Thomas Wolfe ... "You can't go home again." But there's also "There's no place like home" (John Howard Payne); "Any place I hang my hat is home" (Arlen and Mercer); "Home is where, when you go there, they have to take you in" (Robert Frost). As for my feelings about home ... well, 5 Holborn Road was the place I spent the first twenty-two years of my life, from the time I was six months old, so I knew no other place as home.
In 2003 when I went to Jamaica after an absence of more than twenty years, I had the opportunity to visit 5 Holborn Road which I had not seen for many years. My parents had sold the house in the sixties and moved, first to 11 Dunrobin Avenue and later to 4 Carvalho Drive. One of the last times I saw 5 Holborn Road was probably in 1960 and it looked like this.

I was staying with my cousin, Rosemary, near Montego Bay in 2003, and we decided to come to Kingston ... I should say New Kingston ... for the weekend to visit family and friends. We wanted to stay at a moderately priced hotel and, knowing that 5 Holborn Road was now the Indies Hotel, I suggested we stay there. So we did the long drive from Montego Bay to Kingston and finally arrived at 5 Holborn Road. I must admit to feelings both of anticipation and some trepidation at seeing my home again. I had seen a photograph of it some time before, but the actual view was indeed a surprise.


The added building extends to the old outbuildings and the detached garage is now part of the entire structure.

The interior of the house has changed and yet I could still see traces of my old home. Here is a picture I took in 1960 of our dining room.
At the left rear one can see the door to the pantry, and at the rear the entrance to the latticed in back verandah. (I remember a picture that used to hang on the wall to the right of the window looking out on the back verandah. It was a black and white print of Millais's "Princes in the Tower".). The dining room is now the lobby of the hotel and looks like this.

What were my thoughts on seeing my old home again? I was pleased that it had not been changed out of all recognition, and that in fact the renovations made were appropriate to the character of the house itself. It was, of course, no longer home, but it was welcoming and familiar, and strangely enough, seemed quite a bit smaller to me than it had been when I was growing up there.
One last thing ... occasionally I dream of home and family now gone, and when I do it is 5 Holborn Road that I see in my dreams.
6 comments:
I have the same experience about dreaming of home. When I dream of being home, even with Marg and the kids, home is 5273 Joel Ave.
That's really interesting, Gerry. It shows that our earliest experiences are perhaps the most vivid for us ... the ones that stay with us throughout our lives.
I agree with Gerry. I've had dreams about Joel Avenue, too. Aside from the gardens and the trees, on thing that I really do miss is that library in the basement that Dad built, the one that housed all your old paperbacks.
I think this is one of my favourite posts. It must have been a very odd feeling, going back to the old house. Looking at that picture of Julian, and Rodney, etc, and knowing that your home was once full of life and family chatter, it is hard to accept that those days are now long past. Though not forgotten, hopefully. It is replaced with a new kid of life, perhaps intermingling with the ghosts of yesteryear. A very bittersweet thought.
"The past is another country", as they say. But as long we keep it in our memories it's still there. What I really appreciate about the Indies Hotel is that the owners did not demolish the bulding, but built on it, and kept it's original ethos. So often here in Canada people tear down historic buildings to erect some ghastly edifice in its place.
Loved the post and the photos you shared. Thanks much. Look forward to more.
Lovely places specially the first photo. Like the design of the home.
Paula M
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