Residencia Armstrong-Poventud (Armstrong-Poventud Residence) is a historic building located on Ponce Historic Zone in Ponce, Puerto Rico, opposite Catedral Nuestra SeÃÆ'Â ± ora de Guadalupe. The construction of this house set the stage for the construction of other houses that have similar architectural elements, characters, and luxuries in Ponce in the 20th century. The architectural style is collectively known as Ponce Creole. The house was designed and built by Manuel VÃÆ'ctor Domenech for the Armstrong-Poventud family. It's listed in the US National Register of Historic Places as Armstrong-Toro House , and is also known as Casa de las Cariatides . In 1991, Instituto de Cultura PuertorriqueÃÆ' Â ± a transformed the house into a museum, which it manages.
Video Residencia Armstrong-Poventud
Construction date
The Puerto Rican Cultural Institute (ICP) and the Puerto Rico History Preservation Office have determined that the house was built in 1899. The American Architect and Buildings Magazine, on the cover of 25 January. , 1899, published the design of Residencia Armstrong-Poventud. Residencia was fully inaugurated as a museum by ICP in October 2008. Prior to 2008, and started in 1991, visitors were allowed to tour temporary homes that simultaneously served as Southern Institute headquarters. The Institute operates a small but diverse shop in the wing of the museum.
Maps Residencia Armstrong-Poventud
Significance
The Carlos Armstrong-Toro Residence is one of the most famous houses in Ponce. This structure was designed and built by Manuel Domenech, one of the island's most famous architects in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of Domenech's designs include: Asilo de Pobres de Mayaguez and Residencia Batiz. Domenech, a prominent public figure in Puerto Rico during the 20th century, built many private residences and public buildings in San Juan, Ponce and Mayaguez.
Mr. Armstrong-Toro is one of Ponce's most honorable residents as well. He was one of the first bankers in Puerto Rico, founder of Banco de Ponce and Banco CrÃÆ'Â © dito y Ahorro PonceÃÆ'Â ± o. Mr. Armstrong-Toro developed an international banking network with offices in Puerto Rico, Cuba, the United States, and Denmark. As a result of his extensive financial relations with the Danish government, Mr. Armstrong was awarded the high honor of the "Danabru Order" of Denmark and was named the Danish Consul for Puerto Rico.
Architecturally, Armstrong-Toro Residence is very important in the history of Ponce as it is one of Domenech's most famous and probably the most famous eclectic designs. The unique main entrance framed caryatids, intricate decorative details and their location in the most prominent place in the town of Ponce (opposite the cathedral and public square) have made this house a true architectural building in the city's traditional urban center. As a result, many homes were built early in the 20th century with similar elements in the same vocabulary, contributing to Ponce's unique historic district.
Physical appearance
Residencia Armstrong-Poventud is a two-storey stone building west of Calle Union (No. 9), right in front of the Cathedral and Plaza in the center of the historic town of Ponce. A nearly cubic cubic proportion is articulated in three bays: 2 wider bays flanking the small bay in the center.
At the base level, the pink stone pedestal serves as a podium for an eclectic pilaster of one story in the north and south of the facade and for two caryatids, flanking the main entrance and determining three bays of the facade. The main entrance arched cut off the podium and houses carved with intricate hardwood doors and a stained glass incandescent lamp protected by a decorative wrought iron fence. Bays 1 and 3 both consist of paired arches, which lie on the podium and articulated in ionic pilaster sequences. Each house window-arch folds jalousie windows.
At the top level there are four ionic pilasters with poles resting on a continuous horizontal string path. The three openings are arranged symmetrically and equally proportioned and articulated: a simple surround with a keystone framing wide arches, opening onto a balcony through a wooden door. Clearly etched elegant glass lamps occupy the tympanym in every opening. The first and third bay balconies contain a decorative iron fence at the waist level and a larger central balcony composed of stone ledges and rails supported by caryatid figures from the ground floor. A solid-entablature cornice and a sturdy parapet cover the facade composition. Roman-style Amfora on the parapet, above each pilaster, serves as a finial for every division of the cavity.
At the north end of the building, there is a concrete-cochere port flanked by a decorative wrought iron fence project from the top floor, creating a side porch for the upper floors.
The house is very simple in its plan and elegant in execution. The main entrance accesses the foyer with steps leading up to the main circulation room through a wooden and stained double door. A sweeping staircase, towards the back of the house on the left side of the hall accessing the second floor, which is similar in plan to the first. All the floors in the house are parquet and ceiling of hand-painted decorative metal. Floors are installed during the final restoration and the metal ceiling pressed are all original.
As a result of the 1918 earthquake, the north wall of the building collapsed and was later reconstructed in accordance with the original plan. The concrete-concrete-cochere port was added at that time. In addition to this latest addition, Armstrong-Toro's house retains the exact architecture of its original design.
Acquisition and recovery
The Puerto Rican Cultural Institute (ICP) acquires buildings from the offspring of the original owner. Some of the original furniture and personal items of the house were included in the acquisition, as the Armstrong family stayed at home uninterrupted for eight decades. ICP restored the building on two occasions: in the 1980s and then again from 2006 to 2008.
Description
Almost all the furniture and equipment of that era still exists, as well as the paintings and pictures belonging to the original owners of this magnificent old house located right in front of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in the town square. The house is easily recognizable thanks to two caryatids in front of the house and its overall neoclassical architecture style. With a beautiful neoclassical facade, Casa Armstrong-Poventud is one of the most majestic and elegant houses on Ponce. Built in 1900 as home to this Scottish banker, this house served as the ICP regional office for 15 years. The Casa Armstrong-Poventud building is an outstanding example of the island's neoclassical heritage. The Residence is listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 29 October 1987.
​​â € <â €
The Casa Armstrong-Poventud Museum is an example of Belle-Ã pu poetry (The English: The Beautiful Epoch), a French term used to describe the long periods of recorded European history for peace, political stability and industry progress. 19th century and ran into World War I. This period of great prosperity coincided with Queen Victoria's (1837-1901) British empire in which the industry and artistic greatness were promoted with such success which also became known as the Victorian Era.
European Exhibition
Unlike the previous era, the level of artistic and industrial prosperity achieved during Belle ÃÆ'â € poque in such a way as to reach the masses, in Europe as well as in America. Significant exhibitions mark this progress. There was one in England in 1851, and various others followed in other major cities. For example, there was another one in Paris in 1855 that brought more participants, unprecedented in human history: 5.1 million people came from almost every country. In 1878, Paris celebrated another Fair but where phones and lightbulbs were shown for the first time. The city was first lit during this 1878 Paris Fair.
Ponce 1882 fair
Ponce has its fair share in 1882. It is dedicated to agriculture, commerce, industry and the arts. Just like Paris four years earlier, Ponce was also illuminated on the first day of Ponce Fair: Plaza Las Delicias, UniÃÆ'³n Mercantil building, Ponce Casino, and some of Majestic City's most magnificent houses, such as the Armstrong Residence.
Ponce's magnificent house
Economic prosperity in Ponce during the second half of the 19th century was due to the great wealth of sugarcane plantations. This allows the construction of various public works such as Teatro La Perla, Ponce waterways, and some magnificent houses, such as Armstrong Puventud Home. The House of SeÃÆ' Â ± or Carlos W. Armstrong Toro and lady Eulalia Pou, now known as Armstrong-Poventud Residence, represent this wealth despite the colonial Spanish government that restricted the island at the time.
Personal life SeÃÆ' Â ± or Armstrong
SeÃÆ' Â ± or Carlos Walter Armstrong Toro established his fortunes on the agricultural prosperity experienced by the Island: first as an entrepreneur, then as a banker, and eventually as a politician. Mr. Carlos Armstrong Toro has an import/export business that exposes it to the big cities of the world and places it in a touch of architectural style that day. He was, for example, a partner in the New York City business. In addition, he is also a Danish consul in Ponce. It was against this background that he ordered the construction of his house in Ponce. SeÃÆ' Â ± or Armstrong Toro married the woman Eulalia Pou Carreras, on January 11, 1868. DoÃÆ' Â ± a Eulalia Pou is himself from the wealthy Ponce family.
Residential architecture
The Museum at Casa Armstrong Poventud presents the latest architectural and artistic flavors in fashion in the late 19th century in Europe. For example, the use of thick glass on doors and windows. The glass decorations used at the front door of the residence, for example, are almost identical to those used in the Crystal Palace at the Great Britain Industrial Exhibition in England the year before. Floral and natural motifs in residence, as well as characteristics consisting of the new artistic expression of the Victorian Era seen in Europe and the United States in the first decade of the 20th century.
The front entrance
The front door is an example of an excellent door from the Victorian era. It achieves two goals: decorative but also to allow the passing of natural daylight. Almost all the doors in this Museum have unique and magnificent styling characteristics not found on the doors of the capital city of San Juan, where the doors are much simpler. The residence features a harmonious appreciation for style, as much by the architects as by the owners, from Belle ÃÆ' â € ° poque.
Cariatides
The "looking" statue (caryatids) used by architect Manuel V. Domenech for the front of the house is not a classic, but a modern adaptation of the classics. They do not feature a serious expression of the traditional, but smile young with a modern hairdo and show body movement. Even the base where the status lies has an Art-Nouveau style.
Interior details
Interior furniture and other items are also Victorian style. This Residence emphasizes the diversity of styles in the interior, not just different times, but also different countries: Chinese jars, Victorian lamps, Art-Nouveau, and Austrian glass hanging lamps.
Electrical design and plumbing
Mr. Manuel Victor Domenech uses various architectural elements from different ages with unique creative ways. He uses, for example, the most advanced objects of residential time utilities such as electricity, bathrooms and kitchens that function with automated piping systems, to create the characteristic structure of the late Victorian era, known as Modernism. There are many uses of electric bulb lamps when more than 90% of Puerto Rican populations do not use electricity or plumbing.
Overall
The overall impression of the residence is one that features the appearance of a new modernism. It has a Victorian and modernistic element in it, close to the details seen in Belgium, New York City, Chicago, and London at the time. The resulting style is one of the modern Victorian architecture.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments