282 / 540
281
“The modernist trend of reducing all forms to abstraction result-
ed in an unsatisfactory way of representing the power and ide-
ology of the state. This iconographic deficiency to a large extent
justifies the survival of a historicist focus of the building during
the second half of the 20
th
century. The long-standing perception
of a need to recognize the persistence of this residual tradition
is due to fellow historian, Henry-Russell Hitchcock. However,
his term ‘the new tradition,’ coined in 1929 as part of an effort to
distinguish a certain conservative trend in the works of pioneers,
has hardly stood the test of time. In a general sense, the term
may be interpreted as
a proof of the inability of the abstract form to
communicate
” (sic). Emphasis by the author.
21
Located at the edges of the “Ciudad Nueva” neighborhood
and the suburban development of Ensanche “La Primavera,” it
subliminally highlights the future discourse of public open forms.
It includes an attractive terrace facing toward the south, with
predominant views thereof, and at its highest point in the center
there is a pool that replicates the sea. There once was a majestic
fountain there that faced the edified enclosure for the support
structures on a single level, surrounded by arcades and solid walls
devoid of any color. The park is essentially for children, which
allows for creating risers that smoothly ascend due to the slopes
in the paving.
22
A huge and innovatively curved multilevel building located
on the imposing corner of the historic Calle El Conde (de Peñal-
ba). Its presence is reduced toward the lower level and then re-
covers its vertical surfaces in deep layers that afford the rest of
the structure the sensation of being suspended as it subtly rises
up five stories high. It also provides the sidewalk with a covered
walkway that is a modern allusion to classical arches, although
it does so with the use of a structural cantilever and not through
the support of columns that are more recessed, thus enabling the
mass of the first floors to really stand out.
23
His pinnacle work. Very respected and famous among all of
the buildings of the era, not only in the Dominican Republic but
also beyond, for which it served as inspiration. Its impact tran-
scends the local and regional history of the architecture of the
Caribbean and Antilles. Demolished in 1985 after a searing con-
troversy that involved then-current economic and political inter-
ests, the building was a quintessential testament to Rationalist ar-
chitecture as an almost Cubist interpretation with a tremendous
sense of landscaping for a structure facing the sea, which runs
parallel. It was respectfully high (five stories) with smooth planes
opened by deep, square-shaped cavities that decrease the effect
of sunlight on the rectangular façade and a terrace that faced the
sea aiming to break up the apparent monotony of the rooms, all
within the most scrupulous purism and axial geometry of impec-
cable planimetry for the usage that was fashionable during those
times.
24
Segre Prando, in the subsection “La ciudad valor de cambio:
El imperio del consumo”
(Op. cit.,
p. 137), makes the following
reflections:
“By opting for the classical model, the architecture of the liberal
Latin American bourgeoisies transcribed the essential content of
its political agenda; to consolidate institutions, to render visible
their timelessness, to demonstrate the stability of the ruling class,
their culture and their predominance over the rest of society; it is
the urban materialization of a timeless or ideal universal culture,
forged by a landowning aristocracy that by exploiting the riches
from the interior of the country conceives of the city as a space in
which their social existence unfolds.”
25
See
Revista La Española ‘92,
Issue 3, cited above.
26
Dominican architect, urban planner, historian and architec-
ture critic of the Greater Caribbean, Eugenio Pérez Montá, and
architect and landscaper Manuel Vaiverde Podestà (died 1988),
referred to the competition as “the most important one in the
universal history of architecture.”
Revista La Española ‘92,
27.
27
“Cataclismo en Santo Domingo,” September 5, 1930.
“An unusually violent hurricane has today [September 3. Cor-
rection by author] struck the capital of the Dominican Republic;
hundreds are dead in the streets of the city, and the Government
has declared martial law. Based on official calculations, three
fourths of all dwellings have been destroyed, and Santo Domingo
is completely lacking in potable water. A large part of the island’s
population has no home or food. The hurricane had winds of 250
km per hour and destroyed homes and buildings as it passed. The
streets are blocked by the debris, especially in the poor suburbs of
the capital. Based on initial calculations by official organizations,
the numbers can be summarized as follows: 1,000 deaths, 4,000
injured, 4,700 buildings completely destroyed, and approximate-
ly 29,000 people without a home.”
Crónica del Siglo XX
(Barcelo-
na: Plaza & Janés Editores, S. A., 1986).
28
Ramón Lugo Lovatón
, Escombros
(Ciudad Trujillo: Editora El
Caribe, 1955).
29
The other one is in Bánica, a Spanish settlement from 1774
bordering Haiti that has had a sundial since 1794. See Erwin Wal-
ter Palm,
Los Monumentos Arquitectónicos de la Española
(Santo Do-
mingo: Universidad de Santo Domingo), 1955.
30
Similar to those that the Argentine historian and architect
Ramón Gutiérrez alludes to in his book
Arquitectura y Urbanismo
en Iberoamérica.
“‘Government palaces’ in the Americas tended to
use the former palaces of the viceroys and governors – when they
existed – while the legislative branch or municipal government
tended to reuse
cabildos
or town halls.” From the aforementioned
text, in the chapter
“La arquitectura academicista entre 1870 y 1914:
Arquitectura de Gobierno,”
(Madrid: Manuales Arte Cátedra, 1983),
421.
31
A total of forty projects were considered from twelve Amer-
ican and European countries. The competition was won by the
Frenchmen D. De Segonzac and P. Dupré. Archives of the GNA.
32
On March 16, the newspaper
El Caribe
reported the acts of
mourning with a photographic spread mentioning the people
that had sent bouquets and wreaths.
THE ITALIAN ENGINEER GUIDO D’ALESSANDRO LOMBARDI