Palacete Los Moreau

Last updated
Hacienda Iruena Manor House
Visittomoca.jpg
The house in 2008
USA Puerto Rico location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of the house in Puerto Rico
Location Highway 2, km 115.7
Barrio Aceitunas
Moca, Puerto Rico
Coordinates 18°27′11″N67°03′41″W / 18.452958°N 67.061461°W / 18.452958; -67.061461
Arealess than one acre
Built1893
ArchitectServa, Paul
Architectural styleRenaissance, French Chateau
NRHP reference No. 87000735 [1]
RNSZH No.94-27-004-JP-SH
Significant dates
Added to NRHPAugust 14, 1987
Designated RNSZHMay 4, 1994

Palacete Los Moreau is a house museum located in Moca, Puerto Rico. Historically known as the Labadie Mansion, the house inspired writer Enrique Laguerre to write La Llamarada. [2] The property was restored as a museum and renamed the Palacete Los Moreau in honor of Laguerre's novel. It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Hacienda Iruena Manor House, [1] and on the Puerto Rico Register of Historic Sites and Zones as the Labadie House. [3]

Contents

History

Built in 1893, it is the only building still standing of an agricultural conglomerate where both coffee and sugar were planted and processed. [4] It belonged to the French family Pellot.

The hacienda was sold to Juan Labadié in 1860. At the time of acquisition, the property had an area of 1,300 acres, of which three quarters were planted with coffee. The other quarter was divided between cane, timber and cattle.

Juan Labadié lived on the plantation until his death in 1893. His widow, Cornelia Pellot decided to demolish the old house of wood to build a new one made out of concrete.

After the Spanish–American War Puerto Rico became a commonwealth of the United States in 1898, the estate became solely a sugar plantation belonging to Central Coloso.

Architecture

Plans for the construction of the house started in 1893. The house was designed by Paul Servajean, [1] the administrator of the sugar mill "Central Coloso" in Aguada. Serva conceived the design as a Caribbean adaptation of a Chateau in Châteauesque architecture. [1] The main element of the house is the front porch that is flanked by two towers. One of the towers originally housed the library of the house.

La Llamarada

The house, under the name “Hacienda Palmares de la Familia Moreau”, became immortalized in Puerto Rican literature by "La Llamarada", a novel about the Depression-era sugar cane industry written by Puerto Rican author Enrique Laguerre. He describes the house as it existed during the early 20th century, and the Moreau family are largely based upon the Labadies. [4] Laguerre recognized how the novel transformed the house into a legend, "it's like when a great man dies, and literature replaced history and the legend begins." [5] [6]

In 1993 the municipality of Moca acquired the property and restored the house calling it "El Palacete Los Moreau" in honor of the novel. [2] The estate is open free of charge to the public. In accordance with his wishes, Laguerre's body was cremated, and his ashes are interred in a small mausoleum on the grounds of the estate.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hacienda</span> Spanish word used to refer to estates with large business enterprises

A hacienda is an estate, similar to a Roman latifundium, in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, haciendas were variously plantations, mines or factories, with many haciendas combining these activities. The word is derived from Spanish hacer and haciendo (making), referring to productive business enterprises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enrique Laguerre</span> Puerto Rican writer

Enrique Arturo Laguerre Vélez was a teacher, novelist, playwright, critic, and newspaper columnist from Moca, Puerto Rico. He is the author of the 1935 novel La Llamarada, which has been for many years obligatory reading in many literature courses in Puerto Rico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adjuntas, Puerto Rico</span> Town and municipality located in Puerto Rico

Adjuntas is a small mountainside town and municipality in Puerto Rico located central midwestern portion of the island on the Cordillera Central, north of Yauco, Guayanilla, and Peñuelas; southeast of Utuado; east of Lares and Yauco; and northwest of Ponce. Adjuntas is spread over 16 barrios and Adjuntas Pueblo. Adjuntas is about two hours by car westward from the capital, San Juan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aguada, Puerto Rico</span> Town and municipality in Puerto Rico

Aguada, originally San Francisco de Asís de la Aguada, is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico, located in the northwestern coastal valley region bordering the Atlantic Ocean, east of Rincón, south of Aguadilla, west of Moca; and north of Añasco and Mayagüez. It is part of the Aguadilla-Isabela-San Sebastián Metropolitan Statistical Area. Aguada's population is spread over 17 barrios and Aguada Pueblo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moca, Puerto Rico</span> Town and municipality in Puerto Rico

Moca is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico, located in the north-western region of the island, north of Añasco; southeast of Aguadilla; east of Aguada; and west of Isabela and San Sebastián. Moca is spread over 12 barrios and Moca Pueblo. It is part of the Aguadilla-Isabela-San Sebastián Metropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico</span> Town and municipality in Puerto Rico

Santa Isabel is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the southern coast of the island, south of Coamo; east of Juana Díaz; and west of Salinas. Santa Isabel is spread over 7 barrios and Santa Isabel Pueblo. It is the principal city of the Santa Isabel Micropolitan Statistical Area and is part of the Ponce-Yauco-Coamo Combined Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corsican immigration to Puerto Rico</span> In the 19th century

Corsican immigration to Puerto Rico resulted in the 19th century from widespread economic and political changes in Europe that made life difficult for the peasant and agricultural classes in Corsica and other territories. The Second Industrial Revolution drew more people into urban areas for work, widespread crop failure resulted from long periods of drought, and crop diseases, and political discontent rose. In the early nineteenth century, Spain lost most of its possessions in the so-called "New World" as its colonies won independence. It feared rebellion in its last two Caribbean colonies: Puerto Rico and Cuba. The Spanish Crown had issued the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 which fostered and encouraged the immigration of European Catholics, even if not of Spanish origin, to its Caribbean colonies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French immigration to Puerto Rico</span> Began in the late 18th century

French immigration to Puerto Rico came about as a result of the economic and political situations which occurred in various places such as Louisiana, Saint-Domingue (Haiti) and in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hacienda Casa del Francés</span> Historic house in Vieques, Puerto Rico

The Hacienda Casa del Francés, near Esperanza on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, also known as Sportsmen's House, was a plantation house built in 1910. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and on the Puerto Rico Register of Historic Sites and Zones in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hacienda Santa Rita</span> Historic sugar plantation in Guánica, Puerto Rico

Hacienda Santa Rita is located in the municipality of Guánica, Puerto Rico. It is also known as Casa Madre y Noviciado de las Hermanas Dominicas de Fatima and was built in 1800 by Don Mariano Quiñonez.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porta del Sol</span> Tourism region in western Puerto Rico

Porta del Sol, or simply West Region, is a tourism region in western Puerto Rico. Porta del Sol was the first tourism region to be established by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company. It consists of 17 municipalities in the western area: Quebradillas, Isabela, San Sebastián, Moca, Aguadilla, Aguada, Rincón, Añasco, Mayagüez, Las Marías, Maricao, Hormigueros, San Germán, Sabana Grande, Guánica, Lajas and Cabo Rojo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Coloso</span> Former sugarcane refinery in Aguada, Puerto Rico

Central Coloso, also known as Coloso Sugar Cane Refinery, was a long-running sugarcane refinery in Aguada, Puerto Rico. The refinery was established in late 19th century becoming one of the biggest sugar emporiums in the island. It remained operational until 2003, becoming the last sugarcane refinery to cease operations on the island.

Juan Enrique Cortada Tirado (1864—1937) was a Puerto Rican politician, businessman, and landowner. He served as a member of the Senate of Puerto Rico from 1917 to 1920.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayors in Puerto Rico</span> Highest-ranking officer of corresponding municipality

The mayors of Puerto Rico encompass the different mayors of the municipalities of Puerto Rico; each mayor being the highest-ranking officer of their corresponding municipality. Several laws existed that created the post of mayor in each municipality but they were all repealed in favor of a broad and encompassing law known as the Autonomous Municipalities Act of 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museo Castillo Serrallés</span> Sugar cane and rum History museum in Ponce, Puerto Rico

Museo Castillo Serrallés, a.k.a. Museo de la Caña y el Ron, is an agricultural museum in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, that showcases the history of sugar cane, its derivative rum industry, and their impact in the economy of Puerto Rico. The most notorious feature of the museum is the building it occupies. The building is a large four-story structure built in the 1930s for the owner of Ponce's Destileria Serralles, one of Puerto Rico's largest rum distilleries. The distillery was once also home to Puerto Rico's largest sugar-factory called Central Mercedita, producers of the Snow White sugar brand. The building, known as Castillo Serrallés, was designed by Pedro Adolfo de Castro in 1930 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingenio Azucarero Vives</span> Historic place in Guayama, Puerto Rico

The Ingenio Azucarero Vives, also known as Hacienda Vives, is a historic sugar mill complex with ruins of windmill and a processing building, in Barrio Machete of Guayama, in southern Puerto Rico. Sugarcane was ground by the windmill and the extracted juice was further processed in the processing building, by slaves. A slave uprising occurred here in the early 1800s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hacienda San Francisco</span> Sugar mill complex on National Register of Historic Places in Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico

Hacienda San Francisco, also known as Hacienda Quilichini, is a sugar mill complex with hacienda house that was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1995 and on the Puerto Rico Register of Historic Sites and Zones in 2000. The sugar mill was built in 1871. The hacienda house and a mill are regarded as contributing buildings; there are also a kitchen, a shed, a water tower, and some other buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hacienda Los Torres</span> Historic structure in Lares, Puerto Rico

The Hacienda Los Torres also known as Casona Los Torres in Lares, Puerto Rico, dates from 1846. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006, and on the Puerto Rico Register of Historic Sites and Zones in 2007. Designed by Jose Maria Torres y Medina, it is located at the junction of Puerto Rico Highway 111 and Puerto Rico Highway 129.

The Puerto Rico Register of Historic Sites and Zones is a Puerto Rican government program adopted by the state Planning Board for use by both private and public entities to evaluate, register, revitalize, develop or protect the built historic and cultural heritage of Puerto Rico in the context and for the purpose of economic planning and land use zoning.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. 1 2 "Palacete Los Moreau Official site" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
  3. ↑ GOBIERNO DE PUERTO RICO, JUNTA DE PLANIFICACIÓN DE PUERTO RICO (December 7, 2022). "REGISTRO DE PROPIEDADES DESIGNADAS POR LA JUNTA DE PLANIFICACIÓN DE PUERTO RICO" (PDF). jp.pr.gov.
  4. 1 2 Hacienda Iruena Manor House. Nomination document National Register of Historic Places
  5. ↑ "Veo a la casa como un edificio histórico con levadura de leyenda, porque la ficción la convierte en mito. Es como cuando muere un gran hombre y los cuentos apagan la historia y comienza la leyenda. Pasa también con los lugares. Fue hacienda cafetalera, luego sembradío de caña y de piña, pero, La Llamarada le dio un halo de leyenda a esta casa. A la historia hay que ponerle levadura, que se salga de los datos, de fechas, sucesos y se asocie con la gente, con la vida, que no cesa de fluir. De esta forma la historia hace patria." (Enrique Laguerre) Castillo Labadie. City of Moca
  6. ↑ "Palacete los Moreau". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.