Bermuda’s best-known and most influential architect of the 20th century, Wilfred Richmond “Wil” Onions was instrumental in developing the revivalist Bermudian vernacular style that came to define the island’s architecture and inspire Bermudian architects long after his death.
Taking the traditional Bermuda cottage as inspiration, he designed graceful houses with large, well-portioned rooms and bearing his trademark features such as high, graceful chimneys and ‘welcoming arms’ staircases. His designs include some of Bermuda’s best-known properties commissioned by prominent families.
His most famous landmark is City Hall in Hamilton, although he tragically died, by suicide, before it was completed in 1960.
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The bill that decriminalised sex between men, became law, five months after receiving the green light in Parliament. The Private Member’s bill was steered through Parliament by Dr. John Stubbs of the governing United Bermuda Party on May 13, 1994, and passed by a vote of 22-16. The 10-hour debate mirrored months of dissension in the community. MPs were allowed to vote according to their conscience rather than along party lines.
The original bill would have put the age of consent at 16, but the version that won MPs’ approval upped the age of consent to 18. It passed the Senate on May 26 and went into effect on September 2.
Sadly Stubbs, who had been battling prostate cancer, did not live to see it become law. He died on June 7 at the age of 61. The bill is now known as the Stubbs Bill.
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Dr. John Stubbs - architect of historic bill.
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