Francisco Luis Porrata-Doria Gutierrez de Pando (1890-1971) was born in Ponce Luis Porrata-Doría, mayor of Ponce in 1898, and Ana Gutiérrez de Pando. He went to the Ponce High School receiving his High School diploma in 1909. That year he enrolled at Cornell University graduating in 1913 with a degree in engineering. In the summer of 1912 he took advanced architectural coursework at Columbia University, receiving a certificate in architecture.

Upon his return to his native Ponce, he became director of Public Works for the Municipality of Ponce until 1916, during which time his most important public work was the design of the town square known as Plaza Degetau. In 1915 he married Isabel Armstrong Pou, daughter of Carlos Armstrong, owner of the Casa Armstrong-Poventud across from the Ponce Cathedral designed by Manuel V. Domenech. In 1939, after the death of his wife the previous year, he married his second wife Gloria de la Pila Valdecilla, daughter of Dr. Manuel de la Pila Iglesias for whom he designed a hospital building known as Clinica Dr. Pila pictured below.

From 1916 to 1935, Porrata-Doria practiced as an engineer and architect in Ponce during which time he designed several churches for the Catholic Church, numerous prestigious homes and commercial buildings most notably the Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño and Banco de Ponce buildings fronting Plaza Degetau. In 1936 Porrata-Doría became project engineer for the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration while also being consulting engineer for the city of Ponce participating in the design and rebuilding of several public buildings in the city. From 1942 to 1956 he worked as official architect for the engineering division of the Puerto Rico electric power company then known as the Autoridad de Fuentes Fluviales.

Among his work, Porrata-Doria is often times credited with the design of Teatro La Perla in Ponce, however, although he was responsible for its reconstruction of the theater with better acoustics after the 1918 San Fermín earthqauke, the theater was rebuilt using the original 1860 plans of Juan Bertoli Calderoni. He was a pioneer of modern architecture in Puerto Rico, often blending architectural styles such as Victorian, Georgian, Neoclassical, Beaux-Arts, Spanish Revival, and Catalan Modernism.

His extensive designs of catholic churches throughout the island is documented in the ebook Los Templos de Francisco Porrata-Doria by José Mari Mutt also available free on the Apple Books application.