Crucian Heritage And Nature Tourism’s Free Gut Project is responsible for restoring 38 Hospital Street in Frederiksted and now the crew is rebuilding the 380-square-foot house in the backyard from the foundation up.
CHANT is partnering with the American College of Building Arts to recreate properties in the Free Gut area of Frederiksted using construction practices and materials, as much as possible, of the time they were built.
According to CHANT, Free Gut was “established in 1750 and is one of the first places in America where free people of African descent could own property and run businesses.” The building at 38 Hospital Street was chosen because it was not a complicated property and Frandelle Gerard, CHANT’s executive director, said she was able to find the owners.
John Paul Hughley, founder of the ACBA and chief executive officer of Building Arts, LLC, who is overseeing the entire project, said the college integrates professional training, similar to European practices, with a liberal arts curriculum.
“American College is a mixture of theory with hands-on experience,” Talon Riesbec, Free Gut project manager, said.
In fact, Riesbec said the workers and interns from the college working on the St. Croix project learned some of the old techniques used by local builders in the 1700s and 1800s.
“We got insight into the architecture down here,” he said. “There’s new, existing talent on the island with passion and drive.”
In addition to college interns, there are two graduates of ACBA, six workers and one instructor who had been in CHANT’s six-week training program.
“All this work was done by trainees,” Gerard said.
The first building was completed several weeks ago and immediately, the team started on the ruins in the backyard. The house was demolished in December and two foundations were discovered under the floor.
Masonry work was completed two weeks ago, while the framing became a long-distance project. The framing was milled and cut by specifications and built in South Carolina. After it was built, it was disassembled, shipped to St. Croix and reassembled on the island.
The frame was erected last week and now the team is preparing to hang the floor, sides and eventually shingles to finish the project.
“It’s an exact replica. It’s a little beyond restoration,” Gerard said.
A kitchen and outhouse from concrete and stone will be built on the property eventually, along with an old-time oven. Gerard said there were two ovens in the neighborhood to accommodate the group of bakers that lived in the area.
All of the additional structures depend on funding and will hopefully be completed by March 2026.
Neither building on the property will be used as a full-time residence, Gerard said. The building facing the street will be a communal area and used for various functions, including meetings, research and artistic displays.
When completed, the building in the backyard will consist of three rooms and will serve as an artist-in-residence when needed, Gerard said.
The last thing to construct will be a small cistern — there was none on the property.
In the future, CHANT plans to restore more historic buildings in Free Gut, establish several affordable housing units, continue to train local apprentices in construction restoration techniques and host public exhibitions on the history and culture of the area.
The Free Gut project is made possible by an NPS Hurricane Recovery Grand, Building Arts, LLD, ADBA, the St. Croix Foundation for Community Development, the V.I. State Historic Preservation Office and others.
