Dickson House is an important heritage building in Kuwait that was originally built in the 1890s as a typical Kuwaiti home. It served as the residence and office of the British Political Agent for over 50 years. The house has undergone several renovations and restorations over the decades to repair structural issues. Most recently, it was extensively restored to recreate its original interiors and exteriors while making it suitable for a new use as a preserved heritage building.

1. Lecture 21 Dickson House

2. Dickson House Restoration Dickson House is among the most important Heritage Buildings in Kuwait. This building has a unique character that is seen in the ingenious planning and characterization of spaces. The house served as offices and residence of the British Political Agent for more than 50 years and took the present form from the Dickson family who has great attachment to this house. Thus the name Dickson House.

3. Busy Kuwait Port around 1990s

4. Before 1904 The original building is said to be built around 1890's, as a typical Kuwaiti house. Built on coral stone foundations, this was a simple structure with a series of rooms on the ground floor overlooking the sea front. This structure may have had two rooms on the first floor, with a straight staircase leading to them. Ground floor rooms were used for storing goods from sea in those days. The outside structures may have been used as stables. The old house seems to have been connected with some residential structures behind through the open spaces.

5. Around 1915 an annex was added later to the eastern side as a guest room and connected to the main building by a wooden bridge. But during the years of Col.JC. More, the building faced many structural problems and extensive rising dampness had deteriorated. 1915-1928

6. A 1951 aerial photograph of the area around the Dickson House. The traditional buildings are typical of their planning and construction. Most of the houses have a central courtyard with surrounding rooms and arcades. The waterfront was very close to the building causing damp problems since the years of JC.More.

7. The state of the house and repairs carried upon were clearly written in her book “40 years in Kuwait" of Violet Dickson. The repairs were carried out by a Kuwaiti builder Usta Ahmed using traditional materials. He used coral stone and lime mortar to build buttresses along the entire elevation of the main structure. The verandahs were also restored. In spite of these extensive repairs, the heavy winters rains caused major problems to the roof and south wall of the dining room, and had to be rebuilt. Extension of the eastern verandah was also done during this time. 1929-1990 A water color Painting by Col.Dickson painted around 1930's.

8. In 1935 the new British Embassy and residence was completed and Dicksons moved out for a year. After Col. Dickson's retirement as political agent in 1936, at the age of 55, he was appointed by the Amir of Kuwait, Shaikh Ahmad Al-Jabir Al-Sabah as the Chief Local Representative for the newly established Kuwait Oil Company. Col.Dickson had been closely involved with the development of oil exploration in Kuwait. With his new position, Dicksons were invited to come back to their old house. Col. Dickson lived here until his death in 1959. In 1956 with the construction of the Gulf Street, the curved stairs were removed and replaced by a straight flight of steps. Affectionately known as Mother of Saud (Umm Saud) by Kuwaitis, Violet Dickson was made a Dame of the order of the British Empire in 1976. She lived in this house until 1990 when she was reluctantly evacuated to Britain during the Iraqi aggression, where she died in 1991.

9. View of Gulf Street towards Seif Palace.

10. In the past this house was within the quarters of many other old buildings, belonging to the well-known merchants. In the present context, Dickson house is on the Gulf Street overlooking the sea front on one side and modern high rise development on the other. Still being within the vicinity of Planning Ministry complex, Grand Mosque, Amiri Diwan, Dickson house is part of most important Heritage area. The Present Context

11. Living room on First floor Built during the years of Capt. Shakespeare, this room with its fire place is characteristic of a typical colonial house. The wider span was made possible by supporting the wooden rafters over a steel I-section, specially imported from England. Instead of traditional chandal, he used boat building teak.The everyday activities are centered around this particular room. The interior decoration in the old photographs clearly shows Dickson's personal interest of traditional Kuwaiti fabrics and furniture.

13. The Dining room This portion of the structure is rebuilt by Dicksons after the supporting wall was damaged due to heavy rains. A fire place may have been added too during the repairs to this area.

14. The Walls The earliest parts of the building were built using sun dried mud brick approximately of 30cm. x 30cm. The walls were almost three feet thick at places providing natural air-conditioning for the interior spaces. The mortar was simply mud or sometimes mixture of lime and mud. The end walls were usually built using coral stone and lime / mud mortar. Much of the later repairs were carried out using cement block masonry and RCC for roofing by Dicksons.

15. The Mud block walls

16. The Chandal roof The roof is typical of chandal construction. Mangrove beams (chandal) laid across on the thick coral and mud walls were covered by a bamboo mesh ad palm matting. The roof was finished in thick slab of mud mixed with straw.

18. The Built Form

20. Railings and Waterspouts The earlier photographs show that the railings are slightly different in detail from the existing ones. They were of iron bars with wooden top and mid rails and equally spaced between columns. These railings seem to continue along the sea front in the earlier days. At present the railings and wooden battens on the verandahs are main characteristic of Dickson House. The wooden waterspouts typical in size and shape are found in several old houses of Kuwait. These were centered over the columns and act as strong visual elements on the facades. During the documentation and inspection, many of these were found to be leaking and allowing the water to seep into the roof. Extensive repairs were carried out to stop water seepage into the structure.

21. Interiors and exteriors were recreated using compatible materials to the possible extent. Foundations and walls are consolidated and waterproofed. Architectural features and interior decoration has been carefully restored to original keeping in mind the new use for these buildings.

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