The Mutual Building

The Mutual Building, originally uploaded by pictureinfocus.

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The Mutual Building
Lower Broad Street, Bridgetown
St. Michael, Barbados
Series: Bridgetown End To End
(07-24-2007)

Secondary school in Barbados was a good experience for me. And although I did not have to use the Lower Green Bus Stand to catch my bus to go home on evenings, I still found myself standing in front of this massive building courting a young lady whose bus stopped here.

It has been years now and I have lost contact with the young lady, but The Mutual Building in lower Broad Street is still here. This magnificent Victorian that boasts 3 stories was built between 1894 and 1895. The original name was The Barbados Insurance Society Building. Large domes and a second story veranda that surrounds the entire building are some of the buildings’ characteristics.

This wonderful old structure once housed The Mutual Bank of the Caribbean. It was sold to the Bank of Butterfield in December 2003 and is still located within The Mutual Building. I am not certain what percentage of the entire building is used by the bank, but there are also other financial and business offices located inside.

You can still find lots of hawkers outside the building selling, just like when I was a kid. In this respect nothing has changed, just different faces.

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