Dickson House celebrates 17th ’versary of its transformation
Dickson House Cultural Center celebrates on Tuesday its 17th anniversary since its transformation into a cultural center, and named after the first British political agent Colonel Harold Dickson and his wife Violet.
The Dickson House Cultural Centre is one of many other historical buildings acquired by the Kuwaiti National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) which restored it and turned it into a tourist attraction.
The British Political Agency in Kuwait was based in a house that had been built in 1870 for a Kuwaiti merchant. The Dicksons moved into the house in 1929, and the building served as the British political agency until 1935.
Dickson lived there until his death in 1959 and Dame Violet until the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, when she was evacuated to Britain. Sadly, Dame Violet died before the liberation of Kuwait. The Museum’s official in charge Amal Al-Hazaa told KUNA that the house, which is located opposite of the dhow harbor in Sharq and east of Seif Palace, was built in the 19th centuray from local sea rocks.
The house displays photos of Lord Curzon, a British statesman as well as photographs of Kuwaiti rulers from the time of Mubarak the Great to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
It is one of few surviving examples of Kuwait’s 19th century architecture, with 30 rooms and two floors.
The house was ransacked during the Iraqi invasion, but has since been restored by the NCCAL and opened for public in Jan 23, 2001 where a number of cultural envents take place as well as hosting international visitors.