BLACK AND ROUND - Savannah resident builds house in circles

Patrick Wright has been building a 'circular house' for the past eight years. The eye-catching 18-room house sits on a three-acre property in Savannah, a community outside of Linstead in St Catherine.

"I've been building houses from I was likkle bit, and I learned that most people's houses are square, and I had to do something unusual, which is a round house," said the 57-year-old Wright who has done all of the work.

It took a time to come up with it mentally, and it more hard to do than the normal house," the builder added.

Wright's house is painted in bright colours on the inside, and has the Jamaican colours on the outside. He said that the painting adds to the mystique of the project because some people are scared to paint houses in black.

"When I tell my mother I was gonna paint it black, she bawl and say 'No! That a guh ugly! But I do it same way, and now everybody love it," he told THE STAR.

Wright's passion for this home is clear in his dedication to the use of spherical shapes as reflected in the windows, doors and even unconventional places like counters and stairways.

"Every day I just lock up in here working on it and cyah believe how far it reach. I never know what it was gonna become when I started but I'm proud of it so far."

Described by community members as the 'Round House' or the 'Jamaica House', Wright said he hopes that people who sees his two-storey masterpiece would be embolden to make bold choices in the construction of their houses. He currently occupies the unfinished building and said that he is taking his time to have it completed.

Wright, who has been working as a builder for about 40 years, said that he finances his project from the earnings of his trade. He said that members of the community are hopeful that the finished product will be transformed into a guest house, but he is hopeful his home can serve a more altruistic purpose.

"At first I was building it like a family house, but the outside world see it as a guest house. They see it as a museum and many people see it as a studio. People see it as many, many different things, but the more it get bigger the more I see it as something to help people. I'd want it to be something good like a women's shelter or even a home for elders, where you come when you retire," the proud builder said.