believed to be the oldest building in the Cayman Islands.

Onions, Bouchard & McCulloch's Cayman Islands office and a group of other specialists bid for the contract to restore the dilapidated Pedro Castle, believed to be the oldest building in the Caymans.

"It's kind of doubtful origin,'' said Mr. John McCulloch, a consultant with the architecture firm. "Nobody knows quite who built it, and part of the work is to do research.'' The castle is believed to have been built about 1780. It had fallen into disrepair and was in danger of being torn down when it was purchased recently by the Cayman Government.

It is the latest in a number of restoration projects around the Caribbean by the firm, which has offices in the British Virgin Islands, the Caymans, Sint Maarten, Antigua and St. Kitts.

In 1990, it was involved in the award-winning preservation of the Cayman Islands National Museum, an old court house site believed to be the oldest public building in the Caymans.

The firm's offices have been selected by the Organisation of American States for historic restoration projects in both Antigua and Nevis.

In Antigua, it is involved in the restoration of the old Parham Village, an historic village.

And the firm has been involved in the conversion of an old plantation into the "Hamilton Heritage Centre'' on Nevis.

Sugar was as important in the 1700s as oil is today, Mr. McColluch said, and the sugar wealth had its impact on architecture. "It's interesting that at that time, the West Indies was as developed as the East Coast of North America,'' he said.

The restoration work is as much detective work and research as standard architecture, said Onions, Bouchard & McCulloch architect Mr. Don Dessario, who has been involved in many of the firms restoration projects.

"A lot of it involves talking to people. It involves working with control groups, like national trusts, regulators, museums, and that adds another dimension.

"And architects are often used as consultants, trying to figure out how buildings were done in the past. It often involves dismantling things to reassemble them.'' "...It's normally not big profit work but it's interesting. The community gets involved.''