The Giddy House

Class: [controlled] architecture (object genre) [AAT 300263552]
Work Type: storehouses (storage facilities) [AAT 300265138]
Work Type: ruins [AAT 300008057]
Title/Name: Giddy HouseTitle/Type: preferred name
Title/Name: Royal Artillery StoreTitle/Type: former
Creator Display: unknown British, for Victoria, Queen of Great Britain (British queen, 1819-1901, ruled 1837-1901) [ULAN 500022428]
Role [link]: military engineer [AAT 300025086]
Person: unknown British (modern) [ULAN 500125220]
Creation Date Display: 1888
Subject: military architecture [LCSH sh85085131] • storehouses [AAT 300265138] • military buildings [AAT 300006887]
Culture: British
Style: unknown
Current Location: Port Royal [TGN 7006662] (Jamaica)
Measurements: unavailable
Materials and Technique: Display: masonry, brick
Materials and Technique [AAT]: masonry [AAT 300015332] • brick [AAT 300010463]
Description:
This building called “the Giddy House” was built in 1888 during the reign of Queen Victoria, and served as the Royal Artillery Store (artillery storehouse). It was meant to store weapons and gunpowder for the adjacent Victoria and Albert Battery. After Port Royal was struck by an earthquake in 1907, the Giddy House partially sunk to its present 45 degree angle. On entering the building, people often feel a strange sensation of being giddy or off balance, caused by the building’s tilt, hence its name-the Giddy House.