The Italian Legacy in the Dominican Republic

271

raised promontory is also the highest geograph-

ic point and would later become the site of the

exclusive residential neighborhood of Gazcue

in the mid-1950s. It is an extremely high point

making up the third stratigraphic layer of the lo-

cal topography, a natural feature that emerges

from the reef-studded coastline and meanders

throughout the entire city’s bedrock.

At the beginning of the twentieth century,

the distinguished townsman and landowner Fé-

lix María Lluberes made a significant donation

to the country in order to build the campus for

the former Universidad Santo Tomás de Aqui-

no, now the Autonomous University of Santo

Domingo. A large American-style ranch was

constructed high upon the foundation together

with a vaulted perimetral gallery, which opened

onto the east, the south, and the southwest. It

had gabled and slanted roofs and attics, consist-

ing of two floors, with the gallery recreated on

the top floor following the same dimensions

and formal arrangement as the ground floor. With its vast and yet untouched areas and its permanence as

the city center, the expanse of Gazcue established a residential precedent for the entire city. It was developed

with some reservations toward the beginning of the twentieth century on plots from an extensive property

belonging to the magnate Francisco Gazcue. A real estate inheritance would later divide the area into parcels

belonging to various descendants of several wealthy families by the end of the 19th century.

General Casimiro N. de Moya in his illustrious “Plan for the City and Surroundings of Santo Domingo”

from May of 1900 clearly pinpoints improvements for the villa of Gazcue, and referred to the neighborhood

The General Customs

Office, which

later became the

“Presidential Mansion.”

family collection. Courtesy

of José Chez Checo

THE ITALIAN ENGINEER GUIDO D’ALESSANDRO LOMBARDI