Great House

North of Castries, the Great House is a reconstruction of the Cap Estate mansion first built in the 1740s by Monsieur de Longueville, French Military Commandant of St Lucia. The house was first destroyed in the early 1790s during slave uprisings as part of the French revolution.

The house was next rebuilt by the Comte de Brette, a distant relation of Monsieur de Longueville. It became one of the most lavish and regal houses and the center of the island's largest sugar plantations. This house was demolished by the Hurricane of 1817.

In the 1960s retired British Lt. Colonel E. Harrison reconstructed the de Brette home.

The building now serves as a fine restaurant with linen-covered tables overlooking the hills and the sea. Of note, the staff wear the plaids and laces in the traditional dress of the island.