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Dating back a century: Sierra Leone’s colonial-era houses

A pedestrian walks past a traditional colonial-era Board House dating back about a century on Pademba Road in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown April 27, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS

Scattered across Sierra Leone's capital Freetown stand ageing wooden houses, some of which look more like they belong on the east coast of 18th century America than in a steamy west African city. PHOTO: REUTERS

A former British colonial administration building with a covered stairway stands in the Hill Station neighbourhood of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown April 25, 2012. Alongside the Krio Board Houses, the Hill Station area of Freetown is home to another set of striking timber dwellings with a different history. PHOTO: REUTERS

Jacob Thomas, 48, poses for a portrait outside House 7 on Grey Lane in Congo Town, which local residents say was built in 1902, making it the oldest remaining colonial-era Board House in the Congo Town neighbourhood of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown April 28, 2012. Thomas said it was built by his great-grandmother's family after she returned from Britain. She had originally been taken as a slave from her home in Brazzaville, Congo, at that time a French colony, according to the family. Picture taken April 28, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS

The Board House style has been in steady decline for decades, as stone and concrete became more fashionable. Many of the homes are now dilapidated and patched with sheets of rusted metal to keep out rain during the wet season. PHOTO: REUTERS

A vendor's kiosk offers goods for sale beside a traditional colonial-era Board House dating back about a century in the Congo Town neighbourhood of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown April 28, 2012. Picture taken April 28, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS

A shop attached to a traditional colonial-era Board House dating back about a century stands open in the Congo Town neighbourhood of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown April 28, 2012. Picture taken April 28, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS

A former British colonial administration building is nestled behind trees in the Hill Station neighbourhood of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown April 25, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS

Alongside the Krio Board Houses, the Hill Station area of Freetown is home to another set of striking timber dwellings with a different history. After research in Freetown indicated that mosquitoes brought malaria, around 100 years ago the British colonial authorities relocated their settlement from the stifling coastal flats to higher ground. Large wooden dwellings stand on metal stilts driven into concrete piles. PHOTO: REUTERS

A man listens to the radio amidst a collection of homes built in the style of traditional colonial-era Board Houses dating back about a century in the Congo Town neighbourhood of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown April 27, 2012. Picture taken April 27, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS

A dog sits on the steps of a door into the compound of a traditional colonial-era Board House dating back about a century in the Murray Town neighbourhood of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown April 28, 2012. Picture taken April 28, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS

Sierra Leone was once largely forested, but Manilius Garber, vice president of the Sierra Leone Institute of Architects, says some Board Houses were also constructed using timber carried as ballast in ships bound for Freetown, including old pine from Canada. PHOTO: REUTERS

The ground floor doorway of a former British colonial administration building is marked by age in the Hill Station neighbourhood of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown April 25, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS

Painted wooden planks cover the facade of a traditional colonial-era Board House dating back about a century on King Street in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown April 27, 2012. It is hard to assess the surviving number of Board Houses in Sierra Leone, some of which were destroyed in the country's devastating 1991-2002 civil war. Picture taken April 27, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS

Painted wood and metal brighten a recreation kiosk attached to a traditional colonial-era Board House dating back about a century on the main road through the Congo Town neighbourhood of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown April 27, 2012. Picture taken April 27, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS

Old wooden planks cover the facade of a traditional colonial-era Board House dating back about a century in the Murray Town neighbourhood of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown April 28, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS

A woman combs her hair in the back courtyard of a traditional colonial-era Board House dating back about a century in the Murray Town neighbourhood of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown April 28, 2012. Board Houses are a reconstruction of cabin-like structures built in the 18th century on the American eastern seaboard. There were some modifications though, notably a three-foot base layer of porous local stone (seen here) that helped anchor the house down during Sierra Leone's torrential wet season. Picture taken April 28, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS

Scattered across Sierra Leone's capital Freetown stand ageing wooden houses.

Farah Kamal

May 6, 2012 - 12:53AM

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Good photographs, at least ET thinks these are close to home and Pakistanis can connect to them.

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Parvez

May 6, 2012 - 1:14AM

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Seeing these pictures taken in 2012 amazes me because I had the experience of being in Freetown for about a month in the very early part of the 80′s and apparently nothing has changed.
from those days. The most imposing building then in the city centre, was the BCCI bank building.
One has to remember that Sierra Leone is a country rich in natural resources.

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sohail malik

May 6, 2012 - 11:15AM

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greatt

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Farhad Ali

May 7, 2012 - 7:38AM

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such a fragile infrastructure survived ten years of civil war .. wish someone could shoot stunning white sandy beaches around Freetown.

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