A Palace balcony for huge parties.

Terrace dining.

Art adorns even outside walls.

Different colours for each bedroom.

A sunlit corridor.

by Marguerite Gauron

The Jamaica Palace Hotel, east of Port Antonio, opened its doors in l988, just 3 months after Hurricane Gilbert devastated Jamaica.

The brainchild of German co-owner, artist and conceptualizer, Sigi von Stephani Fahmi, and her Iraqi husband, Nazir, this masterpiece of classical Palladian architecture rises from a steep jungle-covered hillside, directly across the bay from the famous Trident Castle at Castle Cove.

The Jamaica Palace has 80 individually designed and decorated air-conditioned bedrooms and palatial suites; a series of colourful aviaries with 86 exotic birds, representing 36 species; and, profusely flowering gardens, with many endemic birds, set against a backdrop of the towering Blue Mountains.

Over 2000 pieces of art – created by the late Jamaican artist Ken Abendana Spencer and Sigi herself – adorn the palace.

They create, what Sigi describes as “cosy corners”, graced with custom-designed furniture and spectacular family antiques brought from Europe.

Soon after it’s opening, the Jamaica Palace caught the eye of TV host Robin Leach who immediately dubbed it “Baby Buckingham Palace” and included it among “The Top Ten Up-and-Coming Hotels” in his “Predictions of the Nineties” – aired on his TV programme “Run Away with the Rich and Famous.”

Over the past 18 years, the Palace has been a popular location for movie companies, ad agencies and travel writers.

Photos of the king-size pool in the shape of the island of Jamaica, and its black-and-white checkerboard pool deck and lush gardens, have appeared in countless publications and even made the cover of the first edition of Terry McMillan’s book, “How Stella Got her Groove Back.”

Less than a year after it opened, the MSF Movie Company – headed by super-star Charlton Heston – set up headquarters at the Palace for several months while the crew filmed a remake of the classic movie “Treasure Island.”

Heston acquired a life-size replica of Captain Bligh’s sailing vessel “The Bounty” from its owner – Ted Turner of CNN and Time-Life fame – and selected as his co-star a very young Christian Bale who, more recently shot to stardom with his latest “Batman” box office hit.

In our next issue, read “Inside the Palace – the Art and More.”