About this Piece

The film vault was built in the 1920's by William Pettigrew Humphrey, an early local cinema pioneer.
Located at the corner of Charles Street and Wrightson Road, Port of Spain, the area was known as
Corbeaux Town at that time. This historical concrete bunkerlike structure was designed for fire safety and
was used to store celluloid film reels during the early days of cinema in Trinidad. This site was chosen
because in case of fire, the sea was on the edge of the building on the western side. Crowning the vault is
a pink poui tree in bloom which adds to the surrounding landscape. Over time land reclamation projects
brought the development of Wrightson Road and have now left the vault surrounded and dwarfed by
modern buildings. The painting is indeed a lasting archectural legacy.