Puerto Rico’s most significant architectural heritage is largely concentrated in Old San Juan and is greatly influenced by its colonial past, when Spanish colonizers established the first significant structures on the island to protect the city against enemy invasion from the sea. Military fortifications like El Morro Fortress, Fort San Cristobal, La Fortaleza, Fort San Gerónimo, The Escambrón Battery and the Fortín San Juan de la Cruz are all Colonial Style defense and military structures still standing, built by the Spanish Royal Corps of Engineers that date back to the 16th Century and define much of old city. Inside its walls there are still magnificent edifications from its colonial past, structures such as the Cuartel de Ballajá, San José Church, La Fortaleza, El Convento Hotel, San Juan Cathedral, Capilla del Cristo, San Juan City Hall, Casa Blanca, Asilo de Beneficiencia, La Mallorquina Restaurant, El Arsenal, Palacio de la Real Intendencia and the Banco Español building. As the saying goes, a pictures is worth a thousand words, so in the gallery below there are pictures of most of these these structures, some with a link to a website with more information.

Throughout the island, many notable structures built during the Spanish colonial era and early after the US Occupation in 1898 remain standing. These works by local and foreign engineers and architects alike represent the diversity and evolution in architectural styles and the cultural and political influences that molded them. The tropical climate and geography of Puerto Rico also played a major role in the evolution of its architectural design considering topography, orientation, climate, and use of local materials. After Puerto Rico became a US territory as a result of the Spanish American War of 1898, the Spanish Revival style became popular, American architect Adrian C. Finlayson, who was the US Department of the Interior State Architect from 1910 until 1921, introduced new styles and techniques. The island’s infrastructure was modernized with a focus on education, administration and public services.

Aside from the work by the US Department of the Interior which is spread all throughout the island, the major concentration of relevant architectural work done in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century is in San Juan, Mayagüez and Ponce, the latter to the extent that the city boasts its own Ponce Creole Style, a unique and distinctive architectural movement that flourished in the city primarily in residential homes built between roughly 1895 and 1920. Other architectural styles flourished in the early 20th Century as the popularity of the Spanish Revival style faded, most notably the Art Deco style used by Pedro Mendez its most important exponent, the Prairie Style made popular by Antonin Nechodoma, the Mission Revival style, the Spanish Colonial Revival style and the International Style made popular by Henry Klumb followed by Osvaldo Toro and Miguel Ferrer who further incorporated elements and developed the island’s version of the Tropical Modernism style.

A list of notable contributors to the Puerto Rican architecture landscape is found in the Architects section of this website with pictures of their work and a brief write-up on their background. In reviewing their work, the transition from a predominantly Neoclassical style in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century to a Neomodernism architectural style in the second half of the 20th Century can be noted.