Spellman McLaughlin Home
Encyclopedia
The Spellman McLaughlin Home is a historic home on Cayman Brac
Cayman Brac
Cayman Brac is an island that is part of the Cayman Islands. It lies in the Caribbean Sea about 90 miles northeast of Grand Cayman and 5 miles east of Little Cayman. It is about 12 miles long, with an average width of 1 mile...

, Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...

. Located in Creek, Cayman Brac, the home stands on the top of a small hill alongside Creek Road.

Construction

Spellman McLaughin, who hailed from East End, Grand Cayman, moved to Cayman Brac with his family at age 16 and married there. In 1926, he began constructing the home to his own design. Constructed of timber imported from Mobile, Alabama
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...

 and Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...

, the planks were cut on-site. Although he had help with the home’s construction, McLaughlin oversaw every detail himself and construction would have to be halted when he went off to sea, which he had to do in order to earn his living.

Built largely of pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...

, the home was completed in 1930 and full-section log posts were sunk into the ground to support the home above the ground. Very few nails were used in the home’s construction and cedar shingles were used as roofing for the home.

The home’s roof was constructed with three gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...

 ends at the front of it, giving the impression that the house has two storeys, when it actually has only one.

Layout

The home has eight exterior rooms built around a central dining room. Each of these rooms has windows and a door to the home’s wrap-around verandah
Verandah
A veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...

. The home’s rooms that face northwest and central dining room were designed to be the home’s formal rooms and have elaborate ceilings. The home’s dining room has diagonal wall paneling and the home’s front sitting room has a domed, beaded board ceiling.

The rooms on the southeastern side of the home, which were considered to be the hottest, did not have ceilings so hot air could rise into the roof space, therefore keeping the room as cool as possible. The kitchen, housed in a separate structure outside the home at the time of construction, was later installed in the southeastern section.

1932 storm

130 people sought shelter in the storm during “the great hurricane of 1932” which caused heavy destruction to Cayman Brac in November of that year. The home’s windows managed to hold and despite a boulder crashing through the home’s front door which allowed water to enter, the storm inflicted no further damage.

The home was amongst the few structures to survive the storm intact and served as a distribution point for scarce emergency supplies sent from Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

.

The home nowadays

Today, the wood used to construct the home is still in good condition, despite exposure from the sun, wind and salt. Zinc roofing now covers the roof, although the original cedar roofing lies underneath.

The home received the Award of Distinction for the Preservation of Historic Places in 1995 by the National Trust for the Cayman Islands
National Trust for the Cayman Islands
The National Trust for the Cayman Islands is the National Trust serving the Cayman Islands. Its purposes are to preserve sites of artistic and architectural interest in the islands and to provide protection for local natural resources and wildlife...

. This award was presented to Spellman McLaughlin’s daughter, Brunzil Rivers, who lived in the home at the time with her family.

As of 2011, Rivers and her family have moved and put the home up for sale.
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