San Juan is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jurisdiction of the United States, with a population of 342,259. San Juan was founded by Spanish colonists in 1521, who called it Ciudad de Puerto Rico.
Humacao is a city and municipality in Puerto Rico located in the eastern coast of the island, north of Yabucoa; south of Naguabo; east of Las Piedras; and west of Vieques Passage. Humacao is spread over 12 barrios and Humacao Pueblo. It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Old San Juan is a historic district located at the "northwest triangle" of the islet of San Juan. Its area roughly correlates to the Ballajá, Catedral, Marina, Mercado, San Cristóbal, and San Francisco sub-barrios (sub-districts) of barrio San Juan Antiguo in the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Old San Juan is the oldest settlement within Puerto Rico and the historic colonial district of the city of San Juan. This historic district is a National Historic Landmark District and is listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places as the Old San Juan Historic District. Several historical buildings and structures, particularly La Fortaleza, the city walls, and El Morro and San Cristóbal castles, have been inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list since 1983. Historically the mixed use commercial and residential real estate in the main streets like Cristo Street, Fortaleza Street (north) from Tanca Street to the Governor’s Mansion is the most valuable in the area and it has kept its value and increased steadily through several years despite the past economic turmoils.
The United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The court is based in San Juan. The main building is the Clemente Ruiz Nazario United States Courthouse located in the Hato Rey district of San Juan. The magistrate judges are located in the adjacent Federico Degetau Federal Building, and several senior district judges hold court at the Jose V. Toledo Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Old San Juan. The old courthouse also houses the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Most appeals from this court are heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which is headquartered in Boston but hears appeals at the Old San Juan courthouse for two sessions each year. Patent claims as well as claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act are appealed to the Federal Circuit.
Río Piedras is a populous district of San Juan, and former town and municipality of Puerto Rico, which was merged with the municipality of San Juan in 1951. The district today is composed of various barrios such as Pueblo and Universidad. The historic town was founded in 1714 as El Roble, it was given municipality rights in 1823, and since 1903 it has been the home of the University of Puerto Rico's main campus, earning the popular name of Ciudad Universitaria today. The downtown and historic center of Río Piedras is officially known as the Pueblo barrio of the municipality of San Juan.
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, to be included with the Old San Juan Historic District.
The Casa Roig Museum is a historic house museum and gallery in Humacao, Puerto Rico. It was designed as a residence for the wealthy sugar planter Antonio Roig by the prominent Czech architect and Puerto Rico resident Antonin Nechodoma (1877–1928), and built in 1920.
The Miguel Angel Garcia Mendez Post Office Building in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, previously known as the United States Post Office and Courthouse, and also known as Correo Central de Mayagüez is a post office and courthouse facility of the United States, housing operations of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. It was designed by Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect of the Treasury, and was built in 1935. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 as U.S. Post Office and Courthouse. In 2007, the U.S. Congress passed a bill renaming the building for statesman and local government figure Miguel A. García Méndez.
Río Piedras Pueblo,, is one of 18 barrios in the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Rio Piedras Pueblo is what used to be the urban center-barrio of the former municipality of Río Piedras until 1951, when the municipality of Rio Piedras was merged with the municipality of San Juan.
The Antiguo Casino de Ponce, or simply the Casino de Ponce, is a historic structure, built in 1922 and located in Barrio Cuarto, Ponce, Puerto Rico. Originally built as a social club for Ponce's elite, it is currently used as the premier reception center of "The Noble City of Puerto Rico". The building, designed by Agustin Camilo Gonzalez in the Second Empire and Neo-Rococo styles, has a French facade and tones. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on 28 October 1987. It is located at the corner of Marina and Luna streets. The building has been called "an icon of Ponce's architecture, history, and identity." It is owned and administered by the Ponce Municipal Government. In 1936, during the Great Depression, the Casino declared bankruptcy and shut down. It subsequently had various uses: a postal office, a public health unit, tax collector's office, and even a temporary city hall. In 1990 it was restored by the Ponce Municipal Government, and has since been used for high-ranking official municipal business. For example, it was here where the dinner to honor Prince of Asturias, His Majesty Felipe de Borbon, took place.
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 Panteón Nacional Román Baldorioty de Castro is a tract of land in Barrio Segundo of the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, originally designed as the city's cemetery, but later converted into what has come to be a famous burial place. Established in 1842, it is Puerto Rico's first national pantheon. It is the only cemetery dedicated as a museum in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Prior to being dedicated as a Panteón Nacional, it was known as Cementerio Viejo or as Cementerio Antiguo de Ponce, and is listed under that name on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The Pantheon is named after Román Baldorioty de Castro, a prolific Puerto Rican politician, and firm believer of Puerto Rican autonomy and independence. His remains are located here. The Pantheon also houses a small museum about the history of autonomism in the Island, and it is currently used both as a park and a venue for the expression of culture and the arts. It is called the Museo del Autonomismo Puertorriqueño.
The Antiguo Hospital Militar Español de Ponce is a historic building in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in the city's historic district. The building dates from 1896 or 1897. It was designed by the Spanish Royal Corps of Engineers. The architecture consists of 19th Neoclassical architecture style. The building is of architectural significance since it is the only one-story building of this style remaining in the city of Ponce and one of the best examples on the Island. Completed in 1897, the year before the Spanish–American War of 1898, this building was the last major construction undergone by the Spanish Government in the Americas. From 1905 to the mid 1970s the structure served as the Asilo de Ciegos de Ponce. It currently (2020) sits abandoned.
Neoclasico Isabelino is an architectural style that applies to houses and other buildings in Puerto Rico. These include a number of buildings in Ponce that are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places:
The Ponce Historic Zone is a historic district in downtown Ponce, Puerto Rico, consisting of buildings and structures with architecture that date to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The zone goes by various names, including Ponce Tradicional, Ponce Centro, Ponce Histórico, and Distrito Histórico.
The Antiguo Casino de Puerto Rico, located at Avenida Ponce de León 1 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a Beaux Arts architecture style building dating from 1917. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
Caguas Pueblo is a barrio and downtown area that serves the administrative center (seat) of the city and municipality of Caguas, a municipality of Puerto Rico. It is bordered by the Cagüitas River to the north and located two miles southwest of the Grande de Loiza River. Its population in 2010 was 22,406.
Pueblo is a term primarily used in Puerto Rico to refer to the municipal district (barrio) that serves as the administrative, historic and cultural center of a municipality. The concept of pueblo is often used locally as analogous to the concept of downtown in U.S. cities. Pueblos are officially called barrio-pueblo by the United States Census since 1990.
Casa Ulanga, also known as the former Superior Court of Arecibo, is a historic building located at 7 Gonzalo Marín Street in the historic center of the Puerto Rican municipality of Arecibo. Due to its historic and architectural importance the building was added to the United States National Register of Historic Places on July 26, 1982.
The Old Customs House of Humacao is a historic building located in Punta Santiago, in the municipality of Humacao, Puerto Rico. The structure was designed in the Spanish Colonial style, architecturally and typologically and finished in 1872 by the Department of Public Works of the Spanish Government in Puerto Rico. Until this time, the customs house was a temporary wooden building, so the need for a permanent structure made it possible that, in 1865, it was decided to construct the present building to serve as the new customs house at Punta Santiago.
