The natural tendency of the first architects, engineers and chief constructors was to work the Spanish way. The first major work that can be related and of which we hardly have any vestiges left today is the big house that, in the early 16th century, Juan Ponce de León builds in Caparra. It follows in the Spanish fortress-house pattern, with wide front and little depth, along whose top it featured a crenelated portal. In the rooms Sevillian tiles were used as a decorative element, and the main entrance toward the west was crowned with a horseshoe arch. Thus, for first time, Puerto Rican earth and stone is tamped and cut to conform to European structural patterns. In the same century, some years later, the building zeal points toward two constructions of superior magnitude: the Cathedral and the Church of the Dominican monastery are already on La Isleta. This last church, in whose architecture there appear Isabella the Catholic-type structural trends, MUTILADO ORIGINAL a construction which started by 1532, has the merit –aside from being one of the best examples in its class, in the Americas—of giving the first feature on this island of an architectural solution independent of the usual Spanish formulas. We can mention authors like Rodrigo Gil Rosello, Santander, chief constructors Antón y Alonso Gutiérrez, etc. In the 17th century there appeared some modest baroque works, mainly the reconstruction and enlargement of the Convento Santo Tomás and the repair of the tower and presbytery of its –now San José—church. Governor Iñigo de la Mota y Sarmiento feeling encouraged, he resumes the construction of the wall, makes the Puertas de San Justo y Pastor and that of Santiago, which he provides with chapels with the saint’s painting or sculpture. He rebuilds the Santa Catalina chapel in the walls next to La Fortaleza, where some sculptures carved in 1610 by the Sevillian Blas Hernández Bedo are then conserved. In scarcely six years, Iñigo de la Mota gives an example of dedication worthy of the Counter-Reformation way, circumscribed to the idea of mere subsistence; the simple civil architecture, that manifestation of the small-town plastic art and the modest ecclesiastical architecture with its typically local solutions. The 18th century is remarkable for the popular architectural forms that occur, as well as the environment and the factors that constitute them. An example of this are Old San Juan's typical big houses, which many mistakenly believe to be mere transplants of Spain’s small-town architectural ways, or simply mere colorless constructions. From Spain it would inherit the classic building elements: whitewashed walls, tapestry, brick or stone, beams, and tile roofs. But it is architecture reborn in Puerto Rican soil. The facade of these big houses is characterized by having two stories, with a projecting balcony, among other typical characteristics of their facade and architecture. Examples of ecclesiastical architecture of this type are churches like the Ermita (chapel) del Plantafe (Palo Seco), Toa Baja, Coano and those in Bayamón, San Mateo de Santurce, Aguadilla, Aibonito, Cayey, etc. In the 19th century, home buildings evolve considerably, without losing their fundamental characteristics, and halfway through the century they incorporate ornaments in cast-iron. A product of European origin, it comes through North America, but is coupled marvelously, with a remarkable sense of fidelity, to the forms of local home architecture. In official architecture, this century reflects the Island’s enormous social and material growth as a result of practical solutions inspired by the postulates of political and economic liberalism. Only in the last havens of the empire –Cuba and Puerto Rico—thrive magnificent buildings whose sole particular purpose speaks of the socioeconomic new order, such as the Intendencia (city hall), the Diputación Provincial (provincial council building), the Hospital de la Concepción, the Casa de Beneficiencia (charity home), etc. The transition to contemporary architecture is manifested mainly through a disciple of Louis Sullivan’s of Czechoslovakian origin, Antolin Nechodorra(1877-1928), who from 1908 until his death, designs more than a hundred buildings for the Puerto Rican community. To date, many Puerto Rican architects, well integrated into the international mainstream of aesthetic architecture and gorgeously informed of the latest contributions to the knowledge of new construction techniques, new materials and urban development philosophies, are led by the island’s values. The Columbus Quincentennial in 1992 sparked a major restoration of Puerto Rico‘s colonial configuration. The island’s architectural heritage is Spanish, of course, taking into account the winding, narrow, cobblestone streets and the colorful, tile-covered buildings with adorned balconies and heavy wooden doors that open up on patios in the southern-Spain’s Andalusian style. Current restoration and renovation projects they are focused on Old San Juan and the city of Ponce. It is estimated that there are at least 400 structures of historical value in Old San Juan, including some of the finest examples of Spanish colonial configuration in the new world. Old San Juan was an important center of trade and military power for Spain in the West Indies for nearly four centuries.
