Casa Serrallés (Spanish for ''Serrallés Residence'') is a historic building in the city of

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 ...

. It was built in 1911 by

Alfredo Wiechers Pieretti Alfredo Wiechers Pieretti was a Puerto Rican architect from Ponce, Puerto Rico. He was an expositor of the Neoclassicism and Art Nouveau architectural styles, doing most of his work in his hometown of Ponce. Today, Alfredo Wiechers' city reside ...

for

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

Juan Eugenio Serrallés Pérez, son of businessman

Juan Serrallés Colón Juan Eugenio Serrallés Colón (1836–1921) was the founder of Hacienda Mercedita in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and what was to become Destileria Serralles, producers of "Don Q", a brand of Puerto Rican rum. Family and early years Juan Serrallés Co ...

, founder of

Destilería Serrallés Destilería Serrallés is a rum producer located in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and best known for its Don Q rum brand. The company is Puerto Rico's oldest family-owned company and has revenues of over 100 million dollars. In 2011, it was responsible f ...

, and himself the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the company that founded Ron

Don Q Don Q is a Puerto Rican rum, distilled, manufactured, bottled, and distributed by Destilería Serrallés from its corporate facility in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Don Q, "Puerto Rico's best-known rum", is the top-selling rum in Puerto Rico, where ove ...

. The building is currently home to the

Museo de la Música Puertorriqueña The Museo de la Música Puertorriqueña (English: Museum of Puerto Rican Music) is a museum in Ponce, Puerto Rico, that showcases the development of Puerto Rican music, with displays of Taíno, Spanish, and African musical instruments that were ...

History

The house was built in 1911 by Alfredo Weichers,The Puerto Rico Tourism Company states, a
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location that its architect was Juan Bertoly Calderoni. for Juan Eugenio Serrallés Pérez and his wife Rosa María Sánchez.

Location

The house is located on the southeast corner of Calle Isabel and Calle Salud, in the

Ponce Historic Zone The Ponce Historic Zone (''La Zona Histórica de Ponce'') 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 go ...

. The location of the house, together with its historic significance, courtyard, and architectural details, make it unique among other Puerto Rico homes. The structure is located less than one block from Casa Rosita Serrallés, another—though much smaller—Serrallés residence.

Significance

Casa Serrallés was built as the exclusive residence of Don Eugenio Serrallés, a leader in the

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...

industry during the early part of the 20th century. The building is significant from the architectural, historical, and cultural perspectives. Architecturally, the building represents an example of one major architectural design popular among the elite class of the early 20th century:

Neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The pr ...

Historically, the building is a reminder of the cultural and economic changes that southern Puerto Rico experienced in the 1920s. "Ponce's dependence on the sugar cane industry at the close of the 19th century, created an atmosphere of development from which evolved a series of intrinsic cultural characteristics and afforded great wealth to many families involved in the industry. The wealthy families generally chose Europe as the model for the direction that cultural endeavors would take." Culturally, the building is important because it was the downtown residence of one of the wealthiest families in 19th-century

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 ...

, and one that so much influenced its economy. The original hill-top residence of the family was

Castillo Serralles Castillo (Spanish for "castle") may refer to: People * Castillo (surname) Places Geography Dominican Republic * Castillo, Dominican Republic, a town in Duarte Province, Dominican Republic Nicaragua * El Castillo (municipality), a municipali ...

, today a historic structure listed in the

NRHP 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 v ...

Physical characteristics

The house is a single floor building. Access to the main entrance of the house is from the Isabel street. As a corner structure, the building occupies a large property and its east-to-west axis is articulated as a very long structure. It was built in 1911 by local

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Alfredo Wiechers Pieretti, and completed in 1912. The house has stained-glass windows, hand-painted floor tiles, carved

mahogany Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Unive ...

louvres, and 12-foot ceilings. The house was sold to the city in 1992, after a long period of abandonment. The property includes a large courtyard. The back of the property contains a spacious finished private yard, complete with a

bar area, where—no doubt—guests were gracefully entertained in bygone years.

Today

In 1996, the

Institute of Puerto Rican Culture The Institute of Puerto Rican Culture ( es, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña), or ICP, for short, is an institution of the Government of Puerto Rico responsible for the establishment of the cultural policies required in order to study, preser ...

restored the building to much of its yesteryear splendor and converted it into a museum showcasing the music of Puerto Rico. Its various rooms display Puerto Rican musical instruments and various memorabilia, and its family room contains a huge mural by

Miguel Pou Miguel Pou Becerra (24 August 1880 – 6 May 1968) was a Puerto Rican oil canvas painter, draftsman, and art professor. Together with José Campeche and Francisco Oller, he has been called "one of Puerto Rico's greatest masters." He was an ...

called "Los Músicos de Ponce" and displaying the greatest musical talent from Ponce until that time.''Porta Caribe: Ponce and around.''
Stephen Keeling. "The Rough Guide to Puerto Rico." Rough Guides Limited. 2008. Page 215. Retrieved 10 July 2012.

References

Notes

External links

Casa Serralles photo in Flickr

Casa Serralles drawings
at the Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Casa Serralles Historic house museums in Puerto Rico Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in Puerto Rico Houses completed in 1911 1911 establishments in Puerto Rico Buildings and structures in Ponce, Puerto Rico Neoclassical architecture in Puerto Rico