The Museo de la Arquitectura Ponceña (Museum of Ponce Architecture) is an architecture museum housed at the

Casa Wiechers-Villaronga Casa Wiechers-Villaronga is a Classical Revival style mansion in Ponce, Puerto Rico designed and built in the early twentieth century. The house was acquired and restored by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and now operates as the Museo d ...

, in Ponce,

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

. It is preserves the history of the architectural styles of Ponce and Puerto Rico. The Casa Wiechers-Villaronga was acquired and restored by the

Institute of Puerto Rican Culture An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

. The museum is located in the

Ponce Historic Zone The Ponce Historic Zone (Spanish: ''Zona Histórica de Ponce'') is a historic district in downtown Ponce, Puerto Rico, consisting of buildings, plazas and structures with distinctive architectures such as Neoclásico Isabelino and the Ponce Cr ...

. The historic house was designed and built in 1912 by Alfredo B. Wiechers. and The house that is home to this architecture museum is itself an example of the architectural history of the city. The museum is housed at the historic

History

In 1912, architect Alfredo B. Wiechers built the Wiechers-Villaronga Residence for his own residence and studio. From 1911 to 1918, Wiechers was commissioned with various important buildings in Ponce, such as the Logia Aurora, Club Deportivo de Damas, the Teatro Habana, Banco of Ponce building, and Santo Asilo de Damas Hospital among others, where he fully expressed the European Neo-Classical style which he had learned from European training. In 1919, feeling political persecution from the American invaders, Mr. Wiechers sold the house to Mr. Gabriel Villaronga and moved to his native France. Many generations of Villarongas lived the house through the twentieth century. In the early 1990s, and in order to establish the Museo de la Arquitectura Ponceña, the house was acquired and restored by the

(ICP). In 1996, the museum opened as the home of the ''Museo de la Arquitectura Ponceña y Planeacion Urbana'' (Ponce Architecture and Urban Planning Museum). The goal was to showcase Ponce's rich architectural heritage.

Location

The museum is a U-shaped, one-storied structure, measuring 68'-10" in width by 95'-2" in length, located at the northeast corner of Calle Reina and Calle Mendez Vigo. It is one block west of

Plaza Las Delicias Plaza Las Delicias is the main plaza in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, Ponce, Puerto Rico. The square is notable for its fountains and for the various monuments it contains. The historic Parque de Bombas and Ponce Cathedral buildings are locate ...

, the center of the

. Calle Reina has several other historic houses on it, including Residencia Subirá and Casa Miguel C. Godreau.

Architecture

The structure that is home to the museum is considered a "treasure trove of culture", a jewel amongst the many antique Ponce mansions that have been preserved and converted into museums. The museum possesses elaborate neoclassical details, a majestic roof-top

gazebo A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal or Gun turret, turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden, or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands. In British English, the word is also used for a tent-like can ...

, and a full set of original and custom-made Catalan modernist furniture. There are also well-preserved shower and bathroom fixtures. Behind all its highly elaborated decoration, with European

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

influence, essentially the structure is neo-classic in style, making a unique and yet elegant combination of both styles. The museum rests on a rusticated stone

podium A podium (: podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used to raise people, for instance the conductor of a ...

; its facades and main walls are of brick

masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...

with some interior partitions and walls of the gallery and kitchen in wood. Wooden beams supports a

galvanized Galvanization ( also spelled galvanisation) is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are coated by submerging them in a bath o ...

zinc roof. The windows and doors of the museum are wooden with movable

louver A louver (American English) or louvre (Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences) is a window blind or window shutter, shutter with horizontal wikt:slat, slats that are angle ...

s and fixed colored glass inlets. A variety of flooring material is used throughout the house: from native cement-colored tiles in the dining area and vestibule, 1" by 6"

tongue-and-groove Tongue and groove is a method of fitting similar objects together, edge to edge, used mainly with wood, in flooring, parquetry, panelling, and similar constructions. A strong joint, it allows two flat pieces to be joined strongly together to mak ...

wood slats in the living area and bedrooms, and ceramic tiles in the bathroom, to marble tiles at the entry-way. The Baroque's influence is manifested immediately on the museum's rounded corners, typical of these residence types in Ponce. The corner is framed by two rusticated

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s and divided into three bays, by two pilaster strips or

lesene A lesene, also called a pilaster strip, is an architectural term for a narrow, low-relief vertical pillar on a wall. It resembles a pilaster, but does not have a base or capital. It is typical in Lombardic and Rijnlandish architectural building ...

s. Each bay contains a wooden movable louvreed window with glass inlets at its top, and a floral relief motif over the

fenestration Fenestration or fenestrate may refer to: * Fenestration (architecture), relating to openings in a building * Fenestra, in anatomy, medicine, and biology, any small opening in an anatomical structure * Leaf window, or fenestration, a translucent or ...

. The rest of the wall is decorated with floral

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. In contemporary times ...

s. The corner is accentuated with a round sitting nook or "glorieta", that is detailed with Ionic columns. Another interesting feature of the house are the

balconies A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...

which are divided into three sections with Ionic columns and framed with Baroque moldings and sculptured faces on the central top part of the openings. The forged-iron railings of the balconies are elaborated after the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

style. The facades are crowned with a continuous masonry

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

. On top of this cornice, a

battlement A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals ...

-type

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

with sculptured lion faces and "

candelabra A candelabrum (plural candelabra but also used as the singular form) is a candle holder with multiple arms. "Candelabra" can be used to describe a variety of candle holders including chandeliers. However, candelabra can also be distinguished as b ...

" decorates the roof line of the structure. Some of the outstanding architectural features present in this museum are highly decorative and detailed

s, rusticated

s, "

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

and motifs, Ionic capitols, etc. They readily depict the Neo-Classical trend of the epoch. The Villaronga Residence is an outstanding example of this style and is one of two residences still standing of a series of houses designed and built by Wiechers, so important to the architectural and cultural heritage of the city of Ponce. Of special architectural importance is the fact that all the furniture is original, including the bathroom appliances. Most of the furniture belongs to the

Modernisme ''Modernisme'' (, Catalan for "modernism"), also known as Catalan modernism and Catalan art nouveau, is the historiographic denomination given to an art and literature movement associated with the search of a new entitlement of Catalan cultu ...

style (Catalan

) and were imported from

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a pop ...

. The hanging tapestry were painted by

Librado Net Librado Net Pérez (1895-1964) was a Puerto Rican musician, educator and painter from Ponce, Puerto Rico. He was the first director of the Escuela Libre de Música de Ponce, considered the best of Puerto Rico's free Music Schools at the time. ...

, a famed local artist. The main entrance is off-centered and located on Reina Street. The entrance hall is decorated with sculptured tiles and the door is located at the end of a marbled stairway. The interior is well kept and unaltered. The interior areas are painted in different colors and the walls have a decorative plastered Art-Nouveau

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

. The ceiling in most of the areas is decorated embossed

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

with a continuous decorative molding at its corners. The

gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: * Gallery (surname), a surname Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery ** Online art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ' ...

and part of the kitchen walls are wooden with fixed wood louvered windows used for better ventilation and light. Other interesting details on the house are: the bathroom fixtures, such as the

shower A shower is a place in which a person bathes under a spray of typically warm or hot water. Indoors, there is a drain in the floor. Most showers are set up to have adjustable temperature, spray pressure and showerhead nozzle angle. The si ...

stall and the ceramic wall tiles which were imported from

, the light fixtures—such as the ones at the dining-room, the master bedroom and living room—which were also imported from Spain, and a "medio punto" at the dining area, typical of the architecture of this Southern area of Puerto Rico.

Displays

The museum has an extensive collection of displays and photos of master works from the most prominent architects of early 20th century Ponce: Blas Silva Boucher,

Francisco Porrata Doria Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Commu ...

, Alfredo Wiechers Pieretti. The city of Ponce, considered by some as the "irrefutable guardian of Puerto Rican ''

criollismo ''Criollismo'' () is a literary movement that was active from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century throughout Hispanic America. It is considered the Hispanic counterpart to American literary regionalism. Using a realis ...

''", was selected as a member of the prestigious Art Nouveau Route of the European Union for its "world preservation of modernist heritage".Art Nouveau Route
/ref>

References

External links