Nationality Puerto Rican Known for Architect Education Syracuse University | Role Architect Name Pedro de | |
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Born 5 January 1895 New York City, United States Notable work Puerto Rico Capitol, Castillo Serralles, Casa de Espana, Residencia Jacobo Cabassa (Ponce), Escuela Central de Santurce, Centro de Recreo en Santiago de los Caballeros (D.R.) Spouse(s) Altagracia Gaya Ballesteros Patron(s) Government of Puerto Rico Died 1936, San Juan, Puerto Rico | ||
Pedro Adolfo de Castro was a twentieth-century architect from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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Early years
He was born Pedro Adolfo de Castro Besosa in January 1895, in Brooklyn, New York, to Pedro De Castro (1867 - 1928; from Ceiba, Puerto Rico) and Manuela Mima Besosa (1872 - 1963; from Ponce, Puerto Rico). His family moved back to Puerto Rico when he was five years old.
Schooling
At the age of 19, in 1914, he traveled to New York where he attended school at the University of Syracuse, graduating in 1918 with a degree in architecture. He was the first Puerto Rican to graduate from a U.S. school of architecture.
Career
Returning to Puerto Rico in 1918, De Castro Besosa started working at the Puerto Rico Department of the Interior in San Juan, under the direction of Puerto Rico's state architect Adrian Finlayson. During his two-year stay with the government of Puerto Rico (1919-1921), he designed the Puerto Rico Capitol building and the Escuela Central de Santurce building. From his insular government job, Besosa moved to the private sector working for Antonín Nechodoma. There, he designed not only buildings but also lamps, mosaics, furniture, and other products. His private practice was marked by his own interpretation of Spanish architecture to define a purely local Puerto Rican architecture.
Works
De Castro Besosa was the architect most involved in the development of the architecture of the Condado section of San Juan, and his works can be seen throughout the Condado area. He also designed residential estates such as Castillo Serrallés (1926) and Residencia Jacobo Cabassa (1934), both in Ponce. During the years between 1918 and 1936, De Castro Besosa designed over 160 residential projects, 35 apartment buildings, 16 theaters, plus several commercial buildings and civic clubs. He also worked extensively in the Dominican Republic, where he designed and built residential projects as well as the Centro de Recreo en Santiago de los Caballeros (the Santiago de los Caballeros Recreational Center).
Several of his works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Works include:
Death
De Castro Besosa died when his small airplane crashed on 18 October 1936. He was 41 years old.
Legacy
Castillo Serrallés, designed by De Castro y Besosa, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. One of De Castro Besosa's four children, Pedro A. de Castro Gayá (b. 1919), also became a notable architect in Puerto Rico, designing, among others, the Ponce YMCA Building.