Gasparillo, the Commercial Centre

One of the older commercial buildings in the town. The building gives away the towns long tradition of being a service centre for surrounding villages and residential areas. Notice the Ground floor of the building is applied commercially, with a bank and a Chinese resturant (not shown), but the upper two floors are used for residential purposes. This is the sort of mixed-use building that is seen in many towns all over Trinidad. However, this design is being phased out now with a preference for either purely commercial or purely residential. This sort of mixed use building is part of Jane Jacobs' ideal neighbourhood.