The best city hikes and walks in Diego Martin

Impressive building from an architectural point of view.

Interesting building, it's worth walking down this street and looking at the row of special houses.

One of the Magnificent Seven buildings on the Queen’s Park Savannah Hayes Court was built as the official residence for the Anglican Bishop of Trinidad. Completed in 1910 it is named after Bishop Thomas Hayes who died in 1904 before the building was actually completed. Hayes Courts’ first occupant was the third Bishop of Trinidad, the Right Reverend John Francis Welsh. The building has traditionally been used as the residence of the Anglican Bishops to Trinidad.

The school had its beginnings as the Queen’s Collegiate School in 1858 and the first building was at a different location near Lord Harris Square. The construction of the current Queen’s Royal College building started in 1902, was completed at a cost of £15,000, and was based on the design of the German Renaissance. The restoration project began in 2007. The current student population is around 800. www.qrc.edu/

This residence, built by Mrs. Prada as a gift for her husband Dr. Enrique Prada, was the home of the Prada family for 19 years. The name Mille Fleurs is original, given to the house by Mrs. Prada herself. The house was built in 1904 and its architectural style has been described as French Provincial. Possibly one of the Magnificent Seven’s most gracious and architecturally refined structures, Mille Fleurs is in an advanced stage of deterioration. It is at present unoccupied and no consideration is being given to even the most basic maintenance.

Ambard's House was constructed by Lucien F. Ambard in 1904 as a family residence. It was designed by a French architect and the original pattern-book is still available at the Ambard's House Library. Most of the materials used in construction were imported, the marble from Italy, the tiles from France and the cast iron elements from Scotland. The wood for the rafters came from an estate in Erin owned by the Ambard family.

The Archbishop’s Palace was built in 1903 by the fifth Archbishop of Port of Spain, Patrick Vincent Flood, at a time when the wealthy estate-owning French Creoles were building on Maraval Road. In keeping with the dignity of his office, the Archbishop decided to construct a palatial residence. The plans for the proposed structure were drawn in Ireland by an Irish architect who obviously had leanings towards the Indian design. Archbishop’s Palace underwent many changes during 1968 and 1969. The building remains the official residence of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Port of Spain.

One of the Magnificent Seven, White Hall, as it is known today, was built in 1904 by Joseph Leon Agostini, a cocoa planter, at the time when “cocoa was king”. Construction commenced in 1904, in accordance with Mr. Agostini’s own design, said to be influenced by the Moorish Mediterranean style and reminiscent of the architecture of Corsica from where the Agostini family originated. Construction took approximately three years, although the roof was not completed until the building changed hands in 1907. This residence, the largest of the private homes on Maraval Road, was originally called Rosenweg.