Property of interest situated in St. James in the City of Port of Spain comprising 213.7 square metres, bounded on the north by No. 49 Western Main Road, on the south by No. 24 Nepaul Street, on the east by No. 47 Western Main Road, and on the west by Nepaul Street.

This house was the home of writer (for the Trinidad Guardian in 1929) Seepersad Naipaul and his wife Droapatie (Capildeo), and their sons Nobel Laureate, Sir V. S. Naipaul and the novelist Shiva Naipaul between 1946 and 1995. In 2002 it was purchased by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and restored.  The house is nominated for its association with the well-known Naipaul family. Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad “Vidia” Naipaul is known for his early novels set in Trinidad and Tobago. He has published more than thirty books, both of fiction and nonfiction, over some fifty years. In 2001 he won the Nobel Prize for literature, the world’s most prestigious and richest literary award.

The house is known as the model for the eponymous house in Naipaul’s 1963 novel A House for Mr Biswas, will be opened to the public as a literary museum. Professor Kenneth Ramchand, chairman of the group Friends of Mr Biswas is overseeing the property and in 2006, the Government granted them a 99-year lease of the property. The group was incorporated by an act of Parliament in 2000 to manage and develop the house.

Address: 26 Nepaul Street

Town/City: St. James

Region: Port of Spain

Site Type: Cultural Heritage

Ownership: Private

Public Accessibility: Restricted Access

Grade: Grade 3 – Property in which there may be allowed (a) Alterations to international non-structural components and roof cladding material; or (b) specified alterations to internal structure;

Cultural Community: East Indian

Site Features: Residences & Great Houses