Three Munro College Buildings – Coke Farquharson Dining Room, Chapel and Terman Calder Building

Historical Significance
Munro College has its origins in the Munro and Dickenson Trust. Robert Hugh Munro and Caleb Dickenson left money for the education of poor children of the parish of St. Elizabeth. The Munro and Dickenson Trust was used for the establishment of two schools – Munro College for boys and Hampton School for girls. In 1856, a free school for boys was opened near Black River, and in early 1857 the premises at Potsdam, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, were purchased, and the school moved there. Historical records reveal that Potsdam was originally a coffee estate utilising enslaved African labour. The structures connected to the original estate are no longer apparent or have been altered. For example, the original nineteenth century great house was the headmaster’s residence until it was hit by lightning in 1935. The present headmaster’s house was built in 1938 to replace the original great house. Also, for a long time the barbeques were protected by the Munro and Dickenson Trust who opposed using the area for tennis courts. However, in 1941 two tennis courts were built and in 1959, a third tennis court was added, and the whole area was resurfaced.
The oldest section of the school is the Coke Farquharson Building, the original schoolhouse, which is a national monument. The other declared sites on the compound include the Pearman Building, which dates from 1938, and the Chapel, which was dedicated in 1914. Although the Headmaster’s House and Study, as well as the Staff Room, are not among the earlier declared buildings, they are among the oldest structures on the property. The Headmaster’s House dates from 1938 and the Study was built around 1929. The Study is connected to the Headmaster’s House by a bannister verandah, and the then headmaster was allowed £400 by the Munro and Dickenson Trust to have it erected. The staff room is over 100 years old and according to the Munronian 1980-1981, from 1907 to 1953 it was the Isolation Ward; between 1953 and 1962 the upper level became the library and the lower level was used as the Trunk Room and Scouts Den; between 1962 to 1968 the building housed classrooms; and from 1968 to the time of the fire in December 2010 the building was the staff room. Although the staff room was gutted by fire it remains historically significant and should be preserved.

Inherent Features
Headmaster’s House and Study
Munro's two-storey Office and Study building is of a flat-faced cut stone construction with a predominance of sash windows. The ends of the galvanised zinc gable roof are supported by a similar cut stone parapet, which is sealed by a concrete coping. Access to the upper level of the Study is accommodated through a wooden step to the side of the building, leading to a wooden balcony (facing football fields), then further into the Headmaster's Office. The two-storey Headmaster’s house is of a later means of construction; the reinforced block and steel building has similar sash windows as the study and office but is covered by a hip roof with Decra-bond finish. Both buildings are attached, but the difference in the time of construction is made clear by the use of different materials, surface treatments, and roof styles.

Staff Room
Like the older buildings, the staff room is made of cut stone and consists of two storeys, with the sloping of the land creating the lower level. The structure originally had a verandah to the front which was blocked up to form additional space for staff. The roofing appears to have been a Mansard Hip Roof with an extended shed section.

Integrity/Sustainability
On December 9, 2010, fire gutted the staff room; nevertheless, the historical materials are still evident, such as cut stone, timber (structural supports; flooring, roof, beams and flooring boards). In October 2025, Hurricane Melissa caused severe damage to sections of the school and destroyed the Chapel.

The Headmaster’s House, the Headmaster’s Study and the Staff Room form part of a complex of older buildings on the Munro College Campus including the Coke Farquharson Building, the Pearman Calder Building and the Chapel. The latter mentioned structures have already been declared as national monuments. These buildings come together to create a campus which suggests tradition and continuity in education. It is therefore imperative that the Headmasters’ House and Study be protected and that the Staff Room be restored so as to preserve this quadrangle of uniformity and aesthetic architectural appeal. In light of this, it is recommended that the staff room site be declared a national monument so that the building can be restored according to the guidelines provided by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust. Also of note is the fact that the CHASE Fund is prepared to offer support for the restoration of the building on the basis of it being declared a national monument. The quadrangle of historic buildings is to be preserved for posterity.