The blueprint of success

On Kingston’s Hope Road stands Devon House, not merely as a heritage site, but as a manifesto in stone. Built in 1891, the mansion was the home of George Stiebel, Jamaica’s first black millionaire. In an era defined by colonial restriction and racial exclusion, Stiebel’s wealth and his decision to build so boldly was itself a radical act of excellence. Devon House is not just history. It is instruction.

Architecturally, the Georgian-style structure speaks the language of balance, symmetry, and order, qualities long associated with power and permanence. Yet here, those forms were claimed and redefined. This was black grandeur in a society that did not expect, or encourage, such expression. Stiebel did not imitate for approval. He asserted presence. The mansion declares that refinement, vision, and mastery are not inherited privileges but cultivated outcomes.

The land beneath Devon House deepens this lesson. Once a rectory space tied to colonial authority, it was repurposed into a home of black aspiration. This transformation is instructive. Spaces, like circumstances, are not fixed in meaning. What once symbolised limitation can become the foundation for greatness when reimagined through vision and intent. Education, at its best, teaches us this exact skill: the ability to reinterpret what we have been given and build beyond it.

There is also resilience embedded in Devon House’s story. It was originally part of “Millionaire’s Corner”, where several grand homes once stood. Today, Stiebel’s mansion is the only one that survived the 1907 earthquake and the pressures of urban development. Survival here is not accidental. It mirrors the endurance of the mindset that created it.

VISIONARY MINDSET

As we commemorate Black History Month, Devon House invites us to think beyond monuments and into method. Stiebel built where he was not “supposed” to. Likewise, each of us is called to construct our lives beyond prescribed ceilings. Your story. My story. Our story. A life worth living is one where we consciously create our narrative at work, at home, at play, on vacation, wherever we find ourselves. Each day carries a story of interest if we are present enough to notice it.

Give thanks for being alive so you can appreciate your own living story. Track your impact daily through kind words, thoughtful actions, or quiet leadership. Reflect each evening, evaluate the imprint you have made, and then plan the next chapter. Visualise your actions and their impact. Research confirms that the subconscious mind responds to intention and rehearsal. Set your tasks. Design your days. Create your daily stories with an eventual vision in mind.

Devon House reminds us: the blueprint of success is not permission. It is purpose, imagined boldly and built anyway.

Contributed by Dr Lorenzo Gordon, a diabetologist, internal medicine consultant, biochemist, and a history and heritage enthusiast. Send feedback to inspiring876@gmail.com.