As drought and famine struck Anguilla, the owners abandoned their fiefdom and their land was parcelled out to a series of owners. The building eventually came into the hands of Gussie Hodge, who leased it to the British Government as a residence for the medical doctor assigned to Anguilla. During the early years of the twentieth century, a long list of official British representatives resided here. These officials also acted as the Chief of Police and Magistrate, and so the house was dubbed "The Warden's Place". After the revolution of 1967 official roles changed and the house once again fell vacant. Alan Gumbs acquired the property in 1973 and a twelve month renovation process started in 1984. Alan commissioned Adrian Kobbe to manage the renovation, putting his professional training in architectural conservation to good use. Adrian worked alongside Evans Harrigan who managed the construction
project. Adrian remembers that "the house was in a saveable, but very run-down state. I wanted to bring it back to life, to give it a soul, to make it a real house again." There was a debate as to whether to rebuild the house as they found it, with later additions, or remove these "improvements" and take it back to how it was originally built. They decided to go back to the original design. During the renovation, layers of whitewash that suffocated the original stonework were removed. When finally released from its blanket, much of it was found to be damaged and in need of repair. Replacement stone was collected by row-boat from Scrub Island by James Ruan, a master stonemason. Workers also discovered a nineteenth century attempt at a septic tank, abandoned. Fast forward to the twentieth century and a new bathroom was installed in its place. Another discovery was the use of cotton, used to seal the gaps between floorboards, a resourceful
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here's a discernible shift in the atmosphere as you drive through the Old Valley. As you drive up the hill, it's almost as if you pass through a portal, time drops down a gear and modern Anguilla is left behind. Standing on the crest of the hill is The Warden's Place, one of Anguilla's prettiest buildings and one third of 'Anguilla's Big 3' the three landmark residences of Landsome House, The Warden's Place (as it came to be known) and Wallblake House. It was built around 1780 by slaves from Africa and indentured Irish servants for a French/Dutch family from St Maarten. They were one of several sugar merchants with property on Anguilla and used the house to preside over a plantation of about 200 acres of sugar, tobacco and cotton that extended as far as Crocus Bay. Opposite the house is an old yellow house with a red roof, which used to be part of the original estate and was used as slave quarters.
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