The Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño building (or Banco Crédito, for short), a historic building in
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.
Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...
, was the first and main office of the historic
Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño
Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño (Ponce Credit and Savings Bank) was the first bank in Ponce, Puerto Rico,National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
on June 25, 1987. It was built in 1924. The building was owned by Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño which was one of the largest banking companies in the country of Puerto Rico during most of the twentieth century.
Location
The building is located on Calle Marina (Marina Street) and Calle Amor (Amor Street, now "Paseo Arias" (Arias
Promenade
An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cl ...
), facing west across Plaza Degetau. It is bounded on the east by Calle Mayor (Mayor Street). Amor Street was also called ''Callejon Amor'' (Amor Alley), literally, ''Love Alley''. In 1991, Amor Street was converted into a
promenade
An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cl ...
Built in 1924 as the main office for the expanding Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño bank this building represents one of the last examples of the once popular turn-of-the-century eclectic architecture so common in Ponce after the 1918 earthquake.Mariano G. Coronas Castro, Certifying Official; Felix J. del Campo, State Historian, and Jorge Ortiz, Architect, Puerto Rico Historic Preservation Office. (San Juan, Puerto Rico) March 27, 1987. ''Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño.'' In, ''National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form''. United States Department of the Interior. National Park Service. (Washington, D.C.) Page 3. Listing Reference Number 87001002. April 27, 1987. Banco Crédito was designed and built by
Francisco Porrata-Doria
Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name '' Franciscus''.
Nicknames
In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father o ...
, who at the time had recently returned to Puerto Rico after studying engineering at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
and architectural courses at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. Porrata Doria was one of the island's finest architects, a pioneer in the development of a local modern architecture, and one of the architects responsible for what can be called "Ponce Monumental Architecture", of which Banco Crédito is a good example. Among the directors and officers of this prominent bank were some of the most recognized names in the city of Ponce and Puerto Rico at large, including former Ponce mayor, Ulpiano Colóm.
This building together with the one next door it, Banco de Ponce, exemplify the effort of local financial institutions to compete with US-based banks for the wealth of Puerto Rico's booming sugar economy.
Banco Crédito's monumental exuberance expresses the pride of the institution, its solidity, and its capacity to hold its own against far more wealthy Stateside institutions competing for the dollars of the local moneyed classes.
The ''Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño''s setting on the city's main square contributes to the elegance of this part of the city. Several adjacent structures are already listed in the National Register, including the old
Firehouse
__NOTOC__
A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire h ...
Cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...
(1841). The latter's facade is a 1932 Porrata-Doria design.
Architecture
The building's architect was
Francisco Porrata-Doria
Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name '' Franciscus''.
Nicknames
In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father o ...
.Mariano G. Coronas Castro, Certifying Official; Felix J. del Campo, State Historian, and Jorge Ortiz, Architect, Puerto Rico Historic Preservation Office. (San Juan, Puerto Rico) March 27, 1987. ''Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño.'' In, ''National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form''. United States Department of the Interior. National Park Service. (Washington, D.C.) Page 2. Listing Reference Number 87001002. April 27, 1987. It is a two-story
masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...
and concrete building located near the southeastern end of Ponce's main square. It sits on a corner lot, looking southwestward towards the main street, Plaza Degetau (Calle Atocha).
It is a single, compact volume which wraps itself around the corner in a dramatic curve that corresponds to the chamfered corner required since the late 19th century by city ordinances. The main two levels have nearly twenty-feet-high ceilings, thus giving the structure sufficient bulk so as to stand out within its context. Verticality is accented by the use of colossal Corinthian
pilaster
In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...
s, square and paired at the facades to each street and round and single at the corner.
The exterior is compositionally organized in three levels: the bottom one is a base executed in the pink
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
common to this area; the central and main body is defined by the aforementioned colossal pilasters, which articulate the openings of the two main floors in three-bay modules with additional one-bay modules flanking the longer, Amor Street facade.
The upper body is an elaborate entablature with
garland
A garland is a decorative braid, knot or wreath of flowers, leaves, or other material. Garlands can be worn on the head or around the neck, hung on an inanimate object, or laid in a place of cultural or religious importance.
Etymology
From the ...
s, dentils, and a projecting, bracketed upper cornice. On top there is a balustered railing filling the space between three broken pediments, the one on the corner curved, with medallions on their centers. The medallions on the facades contain stained glass inserts, and the one on the corner a clock. First-floor openings are arched, those on the second are rectangular. The first-floor windows are covered by bulging cages of fine
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...
bars; those on the second floor are balustered. The entire ensemble is topped by a copper roof in a
Mansard
A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...
configuration.
Officers and historians with the Puerto Rico Historic Preservation Office have stated that "The Banco Crédito building, overall, is a fine example of the early twentieth century Beaux-Arts style which is extensively represented in the Ponce architecture of this period."
Contemporary use
Today, the bank is used as a branch of the Banco de Santander, a Spanish concern that bought the assets of Banco Credito y Ahorro Ponceño during the late 1970s.