"It's a changing city, and if it doesn't have the flexibility to go with the changing economics of Bermuda, it will die,'' said Mr. Andrew Trimingham.

"That, in essence, is what happened to St. George's.'' While lacking commercial development, the old town is "a wonderful gem,'' with everything one could want of the best elements of old Bermudian architecture, Mr.

Trimingham said. "Why try to turn Hamilton into another one, when it doesn't have anywhere near the quality?'' If Hamilton tries to preserve every old cottage left in town, commercial development will leapfrog further into Pembroke and beyond, he said.

Hamilton should preserve the best and make sure new developments fit with Bermudian traditions and their surroundings.

Mr. Trimingham led The Royal Gazette on a tour of the city and talked about where he feels architects have succeeded and failed.

"Most of it is bad, some of it is indifferent, very little of it is good,'' he said of Hamilton's building stock.

Simplicity, proportion, and scale are the keys, he said. To be fair, at least with respect to the last two points, the Planning Department, architects, and others have tried hard to preserve them, he said.

A weighty style, in which walls are seen more than windows, and a lack of fancy or pretentious entrances are also characteristics of the Bermudian style, he said.

On Front Street, nearly all original cedar balconies are gone, partly because they were so expensive to maintain. The storefront alleyways, through which horses pulled carts loaded with goods from the wharf across the street, have all but disappeared as well. Some former alleys now serve as shop entrances and aisles, as at H.A. & E. Smith Ltd.

On the harbour side, the sheds occupy space that could be used for outdoor cafes offering a proper vantage point of the streetscape, he said.

Frith's Liquors Ltd., a newer store, "made quite a nice push to look Bermudian,'' while nearby A.S. Cooper & Sons Ltd. "went to a lot of ongoing expense to do the job right as well.'' Cooper's wooden verandah is "a real feather in their cap,'' though in the days when cedar was plentiful on the Island, the wood was painted, never varnished.

Visitors who reach Chatham House at Burnaby Street are forced to step out from under the verandah because the building extends to the outer sidewalk. In the 1800s, Mr. Hezekiah Frith reportedly built the original outside wall in the dead of night to bypass a town ordinance.

Stopping nearby at the site of the recently demolished Trader's Gate building, Mr. Trimingham said opponents of its demolition would have done better to work with the Bank of Butterfield on what would replace it. Trader's Gate was "a nice old building,'' but "had been so changed in the front that it really bore very little resemblance to its original self.'' The Astwood-Dickinson Co.

building, a former home of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, got the thumbs-down.

"One of the most beautiful buildings ever built on Front Street,'' it is now "a travesty of its former self,'' with "one of the ugliest verandahs'' in the city.

The Crisson Jewellers building, while not blending with its surroundings, is interesting as a rare example of art deco architecture on Front Street. The Bank of Bermuda building on the waterfront is "the single greatest scandal ever to happen in the history of building in Hamilton,'' while the Bank of Butterfield's Rosemont Centre on Bermudiana Road "has no more to do with Bermuda than Chiang Kai-Shek.'' Cumberland House was rated the ugliest office building, while Global House on Church Street and Jardine House (Colonial Insurance) on Reid Street received full marks for adjusting to Bermudian style.

The "very modern'' John W. Swan Ltd. building also incorporates Bermudian character through its use of proportions and light and shade. But the Bermudiana Road view of the LP Gutteridge building and Clarendon House cannot be distinguished from any urban street.

On Reid Street, the north side was mainly residential until the 1930s, while the opposite side was mainly commercial, backing onto Front Street shops.

The new Phoenix Centre received a thumbs-up, because of the architect's imaginative use of setbacks.

Public buildings received a mixed report card.

The Cabinet Building is "easily the best piece of neoclassical architecture in Bermuda,'' blemished only by the varnished cedar door with its fanlight.

But the Sessions House is "a really handsome piece of Bermuda architecture,'' hidden by a "Victorian-Italian facade slapped on for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887.'' Magistrates' Court, the former post office, was badly marred when chambers for magistrates were added to it, he said.

But City Hall, opened in 1960, is the only example of monumental architecture in the Bermudian style, he said. Across the way, Victoria Hall is "terrible.'' In the north part of town, there are several interesting original cottages that should be preserved, but "to what extent is there a point in having a lot of heritage houses all over the place?'' he asked.

"Save the very best if you want to, but don't strangle development or force it out into ribbon development on Pitts Bay Road to save uneconomical pieces of property in the back of town.'' HAMILTON'S BEST . . . The A.S. Cooper and Sons Ltd. building on Front Street (top) and Global House on Church Street (below) receive top marks from Hamilton architecture critic Mr. Andrew Trimingham. Cooper's wooden verandah is "a real feather in their cap,'' while the office building fits the Bermudian style through its use of light and shade. . . . AND WORST -- There are several contenders, but Cumberland House across from the City Hall car park is Hamilton's ugliest building, according to critic Mr. Andrew Trimingham. Its strange design makes it difficult even to find the front door.