Balcony House

Go inside Balcony House Museum and you will discover a period atmosphere there through its furnishing. This modest wooden house dates from the 18th century. It owes its name to the wooden balcony on the  second floor that overlooks Market Street. A museum filled with history revealing a glimpse of the old life.

This house museum was restored in 1994 by the Central Bank and opened to the public.  Balcony House was owned by Josephine Bryce, an American heiress who furnished the house exquisitely with quaint antique furniture from around the world.  The House served as her in-town cottage from the 1930s – 1980s.  The interior was recreated by interior designer, Annie Ralston, who incorporated Mrs. Bryce’s furnishings. 

The building represents great architectural interest. It is timber-built in a style influenced by the southeast United States. The most remarkable feature of the house is the front balcony which is partly supported by wooden knee brackets. The fine mahogany interior staircase is said to have been salvaged from a ship. There is a detached stone kitchen at the rear.

The earliest life of the house possibly dates back to about 1788, as a map of the Town of Nassau indicates a structure on the site, which would place it in the Loyalist period of Bahamian history.  Stephen Dillet, one of the first coloured persons to be elected in The Bahamas lived in the house during the mid 1800s.

Balcony House, that pretty little pink house, is perhaps the oldest residential building in the city of Nassau.