The Ballajá Barracks (''Cuartel de Ballajá'' in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

) is a historic building and former military barracks located in the Ballajá section of

Old San Juan Old San Juan ( es, Viejo 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 (s ...

, in the city of San Juan,

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

. It is located close to El Morro and its esplanade, between the Morovis, Beneficiencia and

Norzagaray Norzagaray, officially the Municipality of Norzagaray ( tgl, Bayan ng Norzagaray), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 136,064 people. It is the location of A ...

streets. It was built from 1854 to 1864 to house Spanish and Puerto Rican regiments. The Ballajá Barracks were the last large-scale construction project made by the Spanish Crown in the Americas. The building has been owned by the

government of Puerto Rico The government of Puerto Rico is a republican form of government with separation of powers, subject to the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United States.Museum of the Americas and the Puerto Rican Academy of the Spanish Language, in addition to several businesses and institutions such as a dance school, exhibition spaces, restaurants and the State Office of Historic Conservation.

History

The Ballajá Barracks were built by the

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

from 1854 to 1864. To build it, six blocks from the Ballajá subbarrio (in Old San Juan) were expropriated from the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...

and demolished in 1853. The three-story structure was completed in 1864, occupying an area of . It could accommodate over 1,000 citizens, originally Spanish soldiers and their families. Its vast interior

patio A patio (, from es, patio ; "courtyard", "forecourt", "yard", "little garden") is an outdoor space generally used for dining or recreation that adjoins a structure and is typically paved. In Australia the term is expanded to include roofed str ...

is one of the best examples of 19th-century Spanish

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

in Puerto Rico. Other than the housing facilities, the barracks had storage rooms, kitchens,

mess hall The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...

dungeon A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette (from ...

s, and horse

stables A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

Spanish–American War

The barracks were heavily used during the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (cloc ...

near the end of the 19th century. On May 12, 1898, during the American bombing of San Juan, the fleet led by Admiral

William T. Sampson William Thomas Sampson (February 9, 1840 – May 6, 1902) was a United States Navy rear admiral known for his victory in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish–American War. Biography He was born in Palmyra, New York, and entered ...

damaged the northeast side of the barracks. After the war ended, and with the change of sovereignty, the barracks became the quarters for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

until 1939.

World War II

During the Second World War, the barracks were used as a

military hospital A military hospital is a hospital owned and operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a ...

, under the name of Army General Hospital of

Fort Brooke Fort Brooke was a historical military post established at the mouth of the Hillsborough River in present-day Tampa, Florida in 1824. Its original purpose was to serve as a check on and trading post for the native Seminoles who had been confined ...

. On August 31, 1944, the

United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, ...

issued ''General Order No. 71'' which renamed the hospital to Rodriguez (161st) General Hospital, in honor of Major

Fernando E. Rodríguez Vargas Major Fernando E. Rodríguez Vargas, DDS (February 24, 1888 – October 21, 1932) was an odontologist (dentist), scientist and a Major in the U.S. Army who discovered the bacteria which causes dental caries.

. After the end of the war, the building was abandoned and it rapidly decayed. Although it was in disrepair, the building was included in the first heritage list of historic structures and monuments prepared by academic architect Mario J. Buschiazzo for the Puerto Rico Planning Board in 1955. Scholar and archaeologist

Ricardo Alegría Ricardo E. Alegría Gallardo (April 14, 1921 – July 7, 2011) was a Puerto Rican scholar, cultural anthropologist and archaeologist known as the "father of modern Puerto Rican archaeology". Early years Alegría was born in San Juan, Puerto R ...

proposed revitalization of the building for it to be used as an academic or educational institution.

Today

The Ballajá Barracks today house several educational and cultural organizations, namely the'' Museo de las Américas'' on the second floor of the building since 1992. This museum is dedicated to the history, culture and heritage of the American continent. The ''Museo de Las Américas'' has three permanent collections: African Heritage, the Indian in America, and Popular Arts in America. In addition to the museum on the second floor, the first floor houses a dance school specializing in

tablao A tablao (colloquial term for the Spanish "tablado", floorboard) is a place where flamenco shows are performed and also tablao is the term used for the platform floor in which a flamenco dancer dances. Tablao venues were developed during the 1960s ...

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

, a bar, a movie theater, a coffee exhibition and café, and a Spanish restaurant called Rincón Ibérico, while the second-floor hosts offices and academic institutions such as the Puerto Rican Academy of the Spanish Language and the State Office of Historic Conservation. The building sustained damages after

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was a deadly Category 5 hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the worst natural disaster in recorded history to affect ...

but restoration was successful with help of more than $17.5 million in

FEMA The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Ex ...

grants. After careful structural analysis and studies from the State Historic Preservation Office, a sedum

green roof A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage ...

(or living roof) was installed in the barracks rooftop. This area is open to visitors, and it consists of observation and sitting areas, walkways and solar panels.

Ownership

Initially, when Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain to the United States, the federal government paid the Catholic Church for this property, among others in the area. Ownership of the property, claimed by the Catholic Church, was not a straightforward matter and had to be resolved by the Supreme Court. The

Government of Puerto Rico The government of Puerto Rico is a republican form of government with separation of powers, subject to the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United States.Government of the United States The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

with the commitment of restoring it and using it for cultural, educative, and touristic purposes. In 1986, a reform plan for the San Juan Historic Zone was sketched and the building was restored from 1990 to 1993.

Gallery

File:Cuartel de Ballaja - San Juan IMG 1925.JPG, alt=, Ballaja Barracks as seen from El Morro esplanade. File:Ballaja-int.jpg, Interior patio of the Ballajá Barracks File:Ballajá Barracks in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico at night.jpg, Ballajá Barracks in Old San Juan at night File:Ballajá, San Juan, Puerto Rico - panoramio.jpg, alt=, Panoramic view of the Ballajá section of Old San Juan with the barracks in the center.

References

External links

*
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballaja Barracks Old San Juan, Puerto Rico Buildings and structures in San Juan, Puerto Rico Tourist attractions in San Juan, Puerto Rico