Why Painting Your House a Particular Shade of Green in The Bahamas Might Be a Bad Idea
One of the things that fascinates visitors is learning that The Bahamas has a traditional colour-coding system for many of its public buildings.
We have three main colours, and most Bahamians can recognise them from a distance.
PINK: Government Buildings
Not just any pink. Colonial pink, or what I affectionately call Pepto-Bismol pink.
You'll find it on some of our most prominent government buildings, including Government House, Parliament Square, and various ministry buildings.
GREEN: Police Stations
A soft, seafoam green generally identifies a police building.
Whether it's a small neighbourhood police station or a large police headquarters, the colour is recognisable.
Police headquarters generally have larger compounds and additional administrative functions, but you don't need to understand the difference to know you've found the police.
YELLOW: Public Schools and Hospitals
A soft, buttery yellow is traditionally associated with our public schools and hospitals.
Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau is a familiar example.
Private institutions can be any color.
Doctors Hospital, a private hospital located just minutes away from Princess Margaret Hospital on the same street, is pink and grey.
Private schools also have considerably more freedom in their colour choices.
SO CAN BAHAMIANS PAINT THEIR HOUSES THESE COLOURS?
This is one of the questions I get asked most often.
My answer is yes and no.
Yes, because there isn't a general prohibition against homeowners using these colours that I'm aware of.
No, because why would we do that to ourselves? 😂
Most of us have been taught since childhood to recognise these colours. We don't need to read the signs to identify the buildings. In fact, some buildings have little or no visible signage, and others have signs so faded that they're barely legible.
The colour tells us what we need to know.
This color code is replicated throughout our islands, so you can arrive somewhere you've never visited before and still have a pretty good idea of where to find certain public services.
Another thing visitors might not realise is that Bahamian communities aren't always laid out with the clear separation between residential, commercial, and institutional buildings that they might be accustomed to at home.
A building that looks like an apartment complex could actually contain government offices. A public building might sit directly beside somebody's home or even share a wall with it.
So imagine painting your house seafoam green and having somebody knock on your door at 2 a.m. because they're looking for the police station.
Or painting it that shade of yellow and having somebody show up expecting medical assistance.
For our own peace of mind, many of us simply leave those colours to the institutions they're associated with.
AND THEN THERE ARE THE EXCEPTIONS.
Two of Nassau's most recognisable private developments happen to share colours from this traditional palette.
Atlantis on Paradise Island is famously pink.
And the historic British Colonial Hotel, formerly the British Colonial Hilton, wears a lovely shade of yellow.
Fortunately, they're distinctive enough that nobody is likely to mistake Atlantis for Parliament or the British Colonial for a public hospital.
Although the idea of someone walking into Atlantis looking for the Prime Minister is rather entertaining. 😂
So the next time you're exploring Nassau, pay attention to the colours of the buildings.
You might be surprised how much information they're giving you without a single word.