Prior to the establishment of the Capitol, the Legislative Assembly used the Provincial Delegation Building, which now houses the Department of State.[6] The idea of constructing a capitol was first introduced by former Resident CommissionerLuis Muñoz Rivera in 1907, and was partly meant to demonstrate some degree of civilian rule in the island, which at the time was already a colony of the United States.[7] The project proposed by Muñoz Rivera assigned $3 million for the construction and established rules for a contest among architectures to decide which one would do the work.
In September 1907, Commissioner of the Interior Laurence Grahame sent the official request for architects through the press and magazines of United States. The specifications for the building were that it was supposed to have three principal installations: the Executive Council, the House of Delegates, and the Supreme Court. It was supposed to be simple, conservative, and appropriate to the island's weather conditions. 134 architectural designs were submitted from the US, Cuba, Canada, France, Spain, and Puerto Rico.
The evaluation of the proposals was in charge of William F. Willoughby (president of the Executive Council), José de Diego (Speaker of the House, represented by Luis Muñoz Rivera), José S. Quiñones (President of the Supreme Court), and Laurence Grahame. Three American architects were also asked to join the commission: E.B. Homerde, John E. Howe, and Bowen Bancroft Smith. In the end, three projects were selected, belonging to Frank E. Perkins (New York City), James H. Ritchie and Lewis B. Abbot (Boston), and Henry L. Beadle (New York).
Perkins design
Finally, the project chosen was the one from Frank E. Perkins, which presented a neoclassical style with little ornamentation. The main halls were organized around a central patio, with the south facade leading to the lobby. The lobby had the dome above, which bore a style similar to the Pantheon in Rome, including the oculus. To the right, there would be a session hall for the Executive Council, and to the left one for the House of Delegates. The Supreme Court would meet in a hall facing north.
Carlos del Valle Zeno design
However, Luis Muñoz Rivera and the local press preferred another project that was disqualified by the evaluating committee, because the architect had included a slogan in the blueprints, which was forbidden. The project belonged to a Puerto Rican engineer called Carlos del Valle Zeno. Del Valle's project presented a Renaissance style, with neoclassic orders.
Despite public opinion, Perkins was hired to make the construction blueprints for the Capitol, which were then auctioned. It wasn't until 1920 that the project was retaken when the Commissioner of the Interior, Guillermo Esteves, published a new design. The change came after a revision from the Department of Interior, which found Perkins' design to be inappropriate. With the supervision of architects Adrian C. Finlayson, Francisco Roldán, and Pedro de Castro, new blueprints were made using the Renaissance style.
The Capitol, postcard of 1936.
Construction of the building eventually began in 1921 under the leadership of Antonio R. Barceló. However, construction was halted after completion of the first level. When Finlayson got ill, he was replaced by Rafael Carmoega who, along with architects Joseph O'Kelly, William Schimmelpfennig, Harry Pembleton, Albert Nichols, Luis F. Pina, and Gonzalo Fernós Maldonado, made another design to finish the structure.
Their design incorporated some of the elements from Perkins's original design, including the dome. The model for the central structure and the dome was that of the Low Memorial Library at Columbia University.[8]
Georgia Marble from the marble deposits in Georgia was used for the building.[9]
The building was inaugurated on February 11, 1929, with the first meeting of the Legislative Assembly taking place three days later.
Designed in the 1950s by the Toro-Ferrer architectural firm, the Rafael Martínez Nadal building serves as the Senate Annex on the Senate side with offices for senators and two hearing rooms, and the Ernesto Ramos Antonini building serves as the House Annex on the House side with offices for representatives as well as hearing rooms. The Luis Muñoz Marín Office Building houses the Office of Legislative Services, the Luis A. Ferré Building houses offices for both chambers, as well as a 700 space parking garage, while the Antonio R. Barceló Building, former School of Tropical Medicine building houses offices for both chambers, the Legislative Library, and offices for the Superintendent of the Capitol and the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico. The Ramón Mellado Parsons Building houses Senate offices. The buildings that formerly housed the State Commission of Elections in Puerta de Tierra are currently used to house House archives, as well as administrative offices.
Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.
Architectural drawings
The Architecture and Construction Archives at the University of Puerto Rico (AACUPR) is the custodian of the Capitol of Puerto Rico Collection (1924-1926). Approximately eight cubic feet in size, the collection contains architectural drawings, photographs and textual documents. The original drawings, executed in ink over drawing cloth, were produced by the Department of the Interior under the supervision of Puerto Rican architect Rafael Carmoega. The 28 originals and 38 blue prints show plans, elevations, sections as well as electrical and plumbing distribution. There is also a proposal for the surrounding gardens by the architectural firm of Bennet, Parsons and Frost and several plates showing entries for the building competition. The collection was transferred to the AACUPR by the Capitol Superintendency in 1986.
Gallery
Detail of outside columns and architecture of the Capitol
The Luis Muñoz Rivera Park is a 27.2 acre recreational public space located in Puerta de Tierra in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The park was named in honor of Puerto Rican statesman Luis Muñoz Rivera. It is the largest public square in the San Juan metropolitan area.
Antonio Rafael Barceló y Martínez was a Puerto Rican lawyer, businessman and the patriarch of what was to become one of Puerto Rico's most prominent political families. Barceló, who in 1917 became the first President of the Senate of Puerto Rico, played an instrumental role in the introduction and passage of legislation which permitted the realization of the School of Tropical Medicine and the construction of a Capitol building in Puerto Rico.
The University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus is a public land-grant research university in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is the largest campus in the University of Puerto Rico system in terms of student population and it was Puerto Rico's first public university campus.
The Senate of Puerto Rico is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, control the legislative branch of the government of Puerto Rico.
Antonin Nechodoma (1877–1928), was a Czech architect who practiced in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic from 1905 to 1928. He is known for the introduction of the Prairie Style to the Caribbean and the integration of Arts and Crafts elements to his architecture. Nechodoma designed in such style at the historical district of Miramar, Puerto Rico where the town preserves his creation.
Puerta de Tierra is a subbarrio (subdistrict) occupying the eastern portion of the Islet of San Juan and the barrio of San Juan Antiguo in the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The name Puerta de Tierra derives from the former eastern gated entrance to the walled city of San Juan where Plaza Colón is today. With a population of 2,924 as of 2010, this is the most populated area of San Juan Antiguo. On October 15, 2019, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The National Capitol of Cuba, also known as Capitolio Nacional de La Habana, and often simply referred to as El Capitolio(The Capitol), is a public edifice in Havana, the capital of Cuba. The building was commissioned by Cuban president Gerardo Machado and built from 1926 to 1929 under the direction of Eugenio Rayneri Piedra. It is located on the Paseo del Prado, Dragones, Industria, and San José streets in the exact center of Havana.
Heinrich Klumb was a German architect who worked in Puerto Rico during the mid 20th Century.
The University of Puerto Rico School of Law is a law school in Puerto Rico. It is one of the professional graduate schools of University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, the only law school in the University of Puerto Rico System and the only public law school in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1913 at its present site in Río Piedras, which at the time was an independent municipality and is now part of the City of San Juan. The School of Law has been accredited by the American Bar Association since 1945 and by the Association of American Law Schools since 1948.
The Casa Consistorial De Mayaguez, more commonly known as the Alcaldia de Mayagüez, is the city hall for the Municipality of Mayagüez. It is located in front of the Colón Main Square facing the Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria Cathedral.
The Jose V. Toledo Federal Building and United States Courthouse is a historic post office and courthouse located at Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is a courthouse for the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. It is also the site for oral argument before the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, when that court sits in Puerto Rico.
The Ponce High School is public educational institution in Ponce, Puerto Rico, offering grades nine through twelve. The school's main building is a historic structure located on Cristina Street, in the Ponce Historic Zone. From its beginning the school has secured a unique place in Puerto Rico's educational history. Of over 3,000 schools erected in Puerto Rico in the first quarter of the twentieth century, Ponce High was the largest, "at a time enrolling more students than all the other Puerto Rico high schools combined", and for many years enrolling more students than any other high school in Puerto Rico. The cost of the building in 1915 dollars was $150,000 USD. The building was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on 4 August 1987. The school has the only diamond-level DECA chapter in Puerto Rico. The Ponce High School building is "among the most important public buildings ever built in Puerto Rico." The school is the oldest continuously-operating high school in Puerto Rico.
The Supreme Court Building in San Juan, Puerto Rico is an architecturally significant Modern-style building and the seat of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. It was built in 1955 and listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2006. Its modern architecture reflects changes to the Court after the establishment of Puerto Rico's new Commonwealth Status in 1952. The main façade is oriented toward the sites of the other two government's branches: the Capitol and La Fortaleza.
Rafael Carmoega Morales (1894–1968) was a Puerto Rican architect from Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. He was the first Puerto Rican to become State Architect, a position within the Department of the Interior which he held from 1921 to 1936. Carmoega was one of the most accomplished Puerto Rican architects of the 20th century.
Pedro Adolfo de Castro (1895–1936) was a twentieth-century architect from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Luis Muñoz Rivera is a statue to the memory of Puerto Rican poet, journalist and politician Luis Muñoz Rivera located at Plaza Luis Muñoz Rivera in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The statue is in bronze. The statue's large marble pedestal follows in the Beaux Arts architectural tradition.
Fundación Biblioteca Rafael Hernández Colón is a gubernatorial library and museum that records the political life of three-term governor of Puerto Rico, Rafael Hernández Colón. It was founded in 1992 and in September 2015 it moved to its current location at the southeast corner of Calle Mayor and Calle Castillo in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in the Ponce Historic Zone.
Edificio del Valle is a historic mixed-use building located at 1118 Ponce de León Avenue of Santurce in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was built in 1941 by the Santurce Development Company and designed by famed Puerto Rican architect Rafael Carmoega, who also designed famous buildings such as the Capitol of Puerto Rico and the University of Puerto Rico clock tower among others. It is a five-story reinforced concrete structure with commercial and retail spaces on its ground level and 16 apartments in the rest. Edificio del Valle has a distinctive Spanish/Mission Revival-style, evident in many of Carmoega's works, with eclectic elements that reference both the local vernacular, Neoclassical and the Modernist styles of the period.
El Cortijo, popularly known as Castillo El Cortijo, is a historic 1939 country house designed by famed Puerto Rican architect Rafael Carmoega. It is located on a hill that overlooks Barranquitas Pueblo, the administrative and historic center of the municipality of Barranquitas, Puerto Rico. It is the summer residence of the Lozana-Fabián family, associated with the sugarcane industry of the island and descendants of Spanish entrepreneur Rafael Fabián y Fabián. El Cortijo and its surrounding structures, gardens and paths were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2018 as they are one of the most exemplary works of Rafael Carmoega along with the Capitol of Puerto Rico and the Roosevelt Tower and Quadrangle in the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus.
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Detail of outside columns and architecture of the Capitol
The Constitution of Puerto Rico exhibited on the first floor
Second floor landing of the Capitol
The Capitol, photo of 1964
