Boletin / Newsletter

Centenario
Caracas Country Club, 1918 - 2018

Felicitaciones de Docomomo Venezuela al Caracas Country Club en su Centenario (f. Revista entresocios - Diseño Bettina Bottome)

Exposición / Exhibition

Suite IBERIA: la arquitectura de influencia española en Caracas

En el siglo veinte la migración española terminó convirtiéndose en la colonia europea más cuantiosa de la capital. Su presencia cultural, unida a la prolongada influencia de España, ya era algo natural, casi propio, que estaba allí desde tiempo inmemorial, es decir, desde 1567, y que por lo tanto encontramos prácticamente fundido con lo caraqueño. Esta es una situación que hace un tanto más difícil al observador común de la arquitectura moderna la diferenciación entre lo caraqueño y lo español. Y es que esas arquitecturas, obras de arte, ingenierías y urbanismos ahora ya no son, como cuando fueron construidas, obras de influencia española. Ahora, son Caracas.
La búsqueda de mano de obra calificada emprendida por los gobiernos de Venezuela en la primera mitad del siglo veinte, dio sus frutos ampliamente: transformaría la ciudad. Los arquitectos, constructores, urbanistas, artesanos, técnicos, ingenieros y artistas españoles afectaron la manera de hacer arquitectura, dieron un vuelco a la calidad y a la industria de la construcción, permitieron que se acometieran proyectos más complejos, multiplicaron sus lenguajes arquitectónicos y artísticos, ampliaron sus repertorios. Pero sobre todo, llenaron a Caracas de experticia, de formación académica, de arquitectura urbana, y también, de arquitectura popular y rural rica en lenguajes ornamentales y regionalismos.
La modernidad española prendió con fuerza en nuestra ciudad. Sentaba bien monumentalizando un Centro Histórico trazado como un damero lleno de esquinas; los neohispanismos fueron una exitosa expresión de continuidad para la arquitectura colonial, muy tropicalizable, y las vanguardias de la modernidad española encontraron un territorio más que propicio para renovar la invención. Los españoles, fundadores de ciudades, tuvieron en el valle de Caracas una América en miniatura que sembraron de urbanismos.
Muchos se quedaron aquí para siempre. Otros, en cambio, vinieron por poco tiempo, a hacer un proyecto y volverse luego a España, o proseguir su camino. El caso es que el compendio de estas obras se convirtió en ganancia para la ciudad. La Caracas moderna tiene así paisajes urbanos y arquitectónicos de apreciable nostalgia por España, pero lo más común es la fusión con los profesionales, firmas y empresas locales para construir juntos la ciudad. Porque la ciudad es la empresa más formidable para los españoles.

 

 Suite IBERIA/ Sala 1 / Room 1. Las Guaycas House Model (f. Rafael Santana, 2015)

 Suite IBERIA/ Maqueta de la quinta Las Guaycas /  Las Guaycas House Model (f. Rafael Santana, 2015)

In the Twentieth-Century the Spanish immigration ended up as Venezuela's capital most populous community. Its cultural presence, together with the long lasting influence of Spain in the country, was already something natural, an almost personal thing, that was already there since the beginning of times, that is to say, since 1567, and  that thus we find it practically melted with the Caraqeunian spirit. This situation makes it a little harder for the common observer of Modern Architecture to differentiate between what is Caraquenian from what is Spanish. Because those architectures, works of art, engineering projects and urbanisms are no longer simply, as when they were built, works with a Spanish influence. They are now Caracas.
The search for qualified workers led by several Venezuelan administrations during the first half of the past century, widely gave its fruits: it transformed the city. The Spanish architects, builders, urbanists, craftmen, technicians, engineers and artists changed  the way in which architecture was performed, revolutionized the quality of the building industry,  allowed for more complex projetcs to be done, multiplied their architectural and artistic languages, widening their repertoires. But above all, filled Caracas with their expertise, academic training, urban architecture, and also, popular and rural architecture rich in regionalisms and  ornamental languages. 

Spanish modernity settled strongly in our city. It was good to monumentalize a Historic Centre  layed out as a grid full of corner sites; Spanish Revivals were a successful expression -very well suited for the Tropic- of Colonial Architecture's architecture continuity,  an the avantgardes of the Spanish modernity found a territory very keen to renovate invention. The Spaniards, founders of cities, found in the valley of Caracas a miniature America ready to be inlaid with urbanisms.
Many of them stayed here forever. Others, on the contrary, came for a short time, to do a project and return to Spain, or contiinue their route. The results are that their works turned out to be a profit for the city. Modern Caracas, therefore, has architectural and urban landscapes with visible nostalgia for Spain, but what is most commonly found is the fusion with local professionals, firms and enterprises in order to bulid the city together. Because the city is the greatest enterprise for the Spaniards.

 Suite IBERIA/ Sala  2. Maqueta de las obras de Velutini & Bergamin en el Centro Historico de Caracas / 

Room 2. Velutini & Bergamin works in the Caracas Historic Centre  (f. Rafael Santana, 2015)

Suite IBERIA/ Salas 2 y 3 / Rooms 2 and 3 (f. Rafael Santana, 2015)

  Suite IBERIA/ Sala 3. Maqueta del edificio Donosti / Room 3. Donosti Building Model (f. Rafael Santana, 2015)

 Suite IBERIA/ Sala 1. Mosaico / Room 1. Mosaic (f. Rafael Santana, 2015)

Curaduría y producción / Curatorship and Production: Docomomo Venezuela 

Inauguración: Julio 17, 2015

Hora: 7:00 pm

Lugar: Sala TAC, Trasnocho Cultural, Paseo Las Mercedes. Caracas, Venezuela. 

Clausura: Agosto 30, 2015 

Opening: July 17, 2015

Time: 7:00 pm

Place: Sala TAC, Trasnocho Cultural, Paseo Las Mercedes. Caracas, Venezuela. 

Ended: August 30, 2015 

Suite IBERIA: la arquitectura de influencia espanola en Caracas. Catalogo de la exposicion  /  Exhibition Catalogue (f. Docomomo Venezuela, 2015)

Links    
Docomomo International
Embajada de España en  Venezuela  
Facebook DOCOMOMO VE   
Colegio de Arquitectos de Venezuela   
El Nacional    
El Universal   
entre rayas 
Trafico visual

Exposición / Exhibition

Las ITALIAS de Caracas_en Porlamar 

 

Curaduría / Curatorship: DoCoMoMo Venezuela

Producción / Production: Sala TAC / DoCoMoMo Venezuela

Inauguración / Opening: Diciembre / December 2, 2012

Hora / Time: 11:00 am

Lugar / Place: Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Francisco Narváez, Porlamar, Estado Nueva Esparta, Venezuela.
 

Esta exposición ha sido posible llevarla a Porlamar gracias al apoyo del Instituto Italiano de Cultura de Caracas, la Gobernación del Estado Nueva Esparta y al Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Francisco Narváez.

This exhibition travelled to the city of Porlamar thanks to the support of the Instituto Italiano de Cultura de Caracas, the Gobernación del Estado Nueva Esparta and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Francisco Narváez.

Exposición / Exhibition

Las ITALIAS de Caracas

Desde los 30s, oleadas de inmigrantes provenientes de todas las regiones de Italia, llegaron a los puertos venezolanos en los grandes barcos italianos de la época. Algunas veces para regresar a Italia luego de un tiempo y reanudar allí sus vidas interrumpidas por la guerra y la pobreza, pero la mayoría de las veces para quedarse en Venezuela para siempre.

Estos son los "Especialistas". Una multitud valerosa de trabajadores que vinieron a reconstruir sus vidas y que, haciéndolo, lo primero que reconstruyeron fue su propia ciudad fragmentada. Fugitivos de los problemas de sus países, llegaron para llenar el valle de Caracas y sus colinas de los fragmentos arquitectónicos y urbanos de sus recuerdos. El momento constructivo que el país vivía debido al boom petrolero, encontró en estos refinados arquitectos, experimentados ingenieros, sabios constructores, poéticos artistas y magníficos artesanos italianos la herramienta más eficiente para la transformación del entorno, aprendiendo de ellos, confiando en ellos... y también volviéndose un poco ellos.

El capítulo italiano de la herencia moderna de Caracas, en sus divinas hibridizaciones con la cultura local, cambió la psicología ambiental de la ciudad moderna, revelándole a la gente culturalmente el potencial escénico del lugar, la especificidad de los sitios, y enseñándolos a hacer una arquitectura más urbana. Sin sus Italias, el ambiente vital de Caracas nunca será el mismo.

 Villa Monzeglio, Colinas de Bello Monte, Caracas. Antonio Montini, 1953.

Las ITALIAS de Caracas (f. EL NACIONAL)

From the 1930s, waves of immigrants coming from all the regions of Italy arrived to the Venezuelan harbors in the great Italian liners of the time. Sometimes to return to Italy after a while and resume there their lives interrupted by war and poverty, but most of the times to stay in Venezuela forever.

These are the "Specialists".  A multitude of brave workers that came to reconstruct their lives and that, in doing so, the first thing they reconstructed was their own fragmented city. Fugitive of the problems of their countries, they came to fill the valley and the hills of Caracas with the architectural and urban fragments of their memories. The building moment that the country was living due to the oil boom, found in these fine architects, experienced engineers, wise builders, poetic artists and magnificent  Italian artisans the most efficient tool for the transformation of the environment, learning from them, trusting them... and also slightly becoming them.

The Italian chapter of Caracas Modern Heritage, in its divine hibridizations with local culture, changed the environmental psychology of the modern city, culturally revealing to the people the place's scenic potential, the specificity of sites, and teaching them to make urban architecture. Without its Italias, the living environment of Caracas would never be the same.

Las ITALIAS de Caracas (f. EL UNIVERSAL)

Curaduría y producción / Curatorship and Production: DoCoMoMo Venezuela

Inauguración: Julio 4, 2012

Hora: 7:00 pm

Lugar: Sala TAC, Trasnocho Cultural, Paseo Las Mercedes. Caracas, Venezuela.

Clausura: Julio 29, 2012

Opening: July 4, 2012

Time: 7:00 pm

Place: Sala TAC, Trasnocho Cultural, Paseo Las Mercedes. Caracas, Venezuela.

Ended: July 29, 2012

 Los paneles / The panels  (f. Tal Cual digital)

Links
DoCoMoMo ITALIA
DoCoMoMo Ibérico
Tráfico Visual
Caracas Shots
Arte en la red 
César Miguel Rondón
el-nacional.com 
El Universal
Tal Cual 

Sala TAC

RESEÑA / REVIEW

American Architects and Planners in Modern Caracas: An Anthology

Hotel Avila (Wallace K. Harrison, 1942) in the 1940s (f. Postcard - Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Most of the American architecture and the urban and landscaping projects built in Caracas in the 2oth century are now Modern Heritage at Risk -some more acutely than others-, and therefore are an important concern for Docomomo Venezuela.

The projects presented here are organized in five topics derived from Caracas modern history: Suburban neighborhoods, Rockefeller´s Men, Oil Corporate Headquarters, The Single Commission and Linging On. Some vanished projects were also included in this list, due to their importance in the history of Caracas Modern architecture.

I. Suburban neighborhoods
a. Olmsted Brothers, (Boston, Ma.): Caracas Country Club (1928), Chacao, Caracas.
b. John R. Van Kleeck, (NY): Valle Arriba Golf Club, (1942), Baruta, Caracas.

II. Rockefeller´s Men
a. Harrison & Abramovitz, (NY): Hotel Avila (1942), San Bernardino, Caracas.
b. Donald (Don) Hatch and Associates, (San Francisco): Old US Embassy Building, (1957), with metallic mural by American artist Harry Bertoia, La Floresta, Caracas.
c. Robert Moses, (NY): Arterial Plan for Caracas Project, (1948), Caracas.

III. Oil Corporate Headquarters
a. Dale Badgeley & Bradbury, (NYC): Headquarters building of Shell Caribbean Petroleum Corporation, (1946), San Bernardino, Caracas.
b. Lathrop Douglass, (NY): New headquarters building of Creole Petroleum Corporation, (1955), Los Chaguaramos, Caracas.

IV. The Single Caracas Commission
a. Aymar Embury II, (NY): La Ciénaga House, (c. 1940-demolished in the 1990's), Caracas Country Club, Caracas.
b. General Motors Overseas Operations, (Detroit): CARS building, (1948), with a work by Venezuelan Artist Jesús Soto, Los Chaguaramos, Caracas.
c. Holabird & Root & Burgee, (Chicago): Hotel Tamanaco, (1953), with Venezuelan architect Gustavo Guinand van der Valls, Las Mercedes, Caracas.
d. John & D. Eberson, (NY): Teatro Junín, (1950), with the Venezuelan architecture and construction firm Velutini & Bergamín C.A., El Silencio, Caracas.
e. Arthur B. Froehlich & Associates, (Beverly Hills): Hipódromo La Rinconada, (1957), with Brazilian landscape artist Roberto Burle Marx, La Rinconada, Caracas.
f. Richard J. Neutra, (Los Angeles): González-Gorrondona House, (1965), with Spanish landscape architect Eduardo Robles Piquer (RAS. Spain, - 1993), Parque Nacional El Avila, Caracas.
g. Johnson & Burgee, (NY): Cubo Negro (1975), with Venezuelan architect Carlos Eduardo Gómez, and Venezuelan artist Jesús Soto, Chuao, Caracas.

V. Linging On
a. Donald (Don) Hatch and Associates, (San Francisco):
Macoroma House (1951), Valle Arriba, Caracas.
Las Mercedes Commercial Center (1955), Las Mercedes, Caracas.
Sucre building, Headquarters of Mobil Oil Corporation (1950s), La Floresta, Caracas.
NCR building (1959), Colinas de Bello Monte, Caracas.
b. Clifford Charles Wendehack:
Caracas Country Club Golf House (1930), with Venezuelan architect Carlos Guinand Sandoz, Caracas Country Club, Caracas.
Planchart & Co. building, (1940s-demolished in the 1970s), Avenida Lecuna, Caracas.
Villa Barberenia (1940s), Caracas Country Club, Caracas.
Villa Mercedes (1930s), El Pedregal, Caracas.
Villa N. 7 (1940s), Los Chorros, Caracas.
Villa La Estanzuela (1940s), Valle Arriba, Caracas.
Peña Viva House (1940s), Caracas. Phelps building (1940s), Caracas Country Club, Caracas.
c. John R. Van Kleek:
Valle Arriba Golf Club House, (1947), Valle Arriba, Caracas.

I. Suburban Neighborhoods

Olmsted Brothers (Boston, Ma.)
Caracas Country Club (1928), Chacao, Caracas.

Caracas Country Club in 2006 (f. 2006, Google Earth).

Of all the 20th-century neighborhoods in Latin America, the Caracas Country Club treasures one of the most extraordinary stories: this neighborhood is a classified project of the Landscape Architecture firm Olmsted Brothers of Boston, Massachusetts, that continued the work of Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., the father of Landscape Architecture and defender of the natural beauty of America.

Caracas Country Club´s landscaping and golf courses in 1958 (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas).

This, in itself, makes this project a beautiful urban rarity: a treasure of the history of landscaping and town planning which in turn is the most successful tribute to the natural landscape of the valley of Caracas, which fortunately remains still there, virtually intact.

Caracas Country Club in 2009 (f. 2009, Raquel Scharffenorth - Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana).

The Caracas Country Club (1928) was built on the grounds of the old farms of Blandín, La Granja and El Samán. It is a landmark for the history of Caracas and of American Urbanism, enriched by the remarkable architectures of many Venezuelan and foreign architects. It is a green, urban and architectural oasis. Its urban design project is preserved in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, and in the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Boston, MA. Being a continuous extension of the Parque Nacional de El Avila, it is an also ecological green lung, and an almost untouched natural sanctuary. It was listed as a National Landmark in 2005.

John R. Van Kleeck (NY)
Valle Arriba Golf Club (1942), Baruta, Caracas.

Valle Arriba Golf Club in the 1950s (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

The Valle Arriba Golf Club was designed in 1942 and inaugurated the following year, in October of 1943. The aim was to create a new space with a club for golf that could be used by the businessmen of the oil companies, like Creole and Shell, and promote the development of the southeastern part of the city with the construction of an exclusive residential neighborhood. The residence of the first U.S. ambassador to Venezuela was placed here.

Valle Arriba Golf Club in 2005 (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

The land belonged to the Hacienda Las Mercedes, an old sugarcane plantation. The urban design, the clubhouse architecture and the golf courses were all commissioned to John R. Van Kleeck, who developed a series of similar projects in the US during the 1920s and 1930s. The Valle Arriba Golf Club was the third course to be constructed in Venezuela, and the second in Caracas, after the Caracas Country Club and the Maracaibo Country Club. The golf courses are developed on an irregular area of forty-three hectares, while the residential neighborhood occupies 25 hectares. It has 18-hole golf fields and a hundred parcels of approximately 2,000 square meters each, with large mid-century houses and gardens, placed in a natural, countryside-like setting. It was listed as a National Landmark in 2005.

II. Rockefeller´s Men

Harrison & Abramovitz (NY)
Hotel Avila (1939-1942), San Bernardino, Caracas.

Hotel Avila (f. Luis Toro - Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

In 1942, at the foot of the Avila mountain on the lands of the old Hacienda Gamboa, was erected the Hotel Avila, the first modern hotel in Caracas. At the end of Avenida George Washington, flags of Venezuela and the United States flanked the entrance to a building that had a curious blend of modern and traditional elements. The hotel comes from a plan for the city proposed by American investors to the Venezuelan authorities, among them Nelson D. Rockefeller.

Hotel Avila in 2010 (f. 2010, Odoardo Rodríguez - Colegio de Arquitectos de Venezuela, Caracas)

The hotel´s plan was born from the stunning views and the unique location, throwing centrifugally its two slender rectangular wings into the landscape. These rational volumes are articulated at the point where are inserted the free-form curved roof of the entrance, the lobby and the ballroom, forms derivative of the modernism of Calder, Léger and Arp. The building is torn between free form and the conformity of the rectangle, between the modern and the historical, between Yacht Style and Spanish Colonial Style, the international and the Caribbean, rigidity and freedom.

In 1944 its expansion was entrusted to Clifford Wendehack. His project was reformulated by and built by the American company Hegeman-Harris. In 1946 the main hall was completely renovated according to a project by Badgeley and Bradbury (Dale Badgeley had worked in the late thirties at the office of Harrison in the design of the Trylon and of the Perisfera for New York´s World's Fair, 1939).

Hotel Avila in 2010 (f. 2010, María F. Sigillo - via facebook group Caracas en retrospectiva)

Harrison & Abramovitz did no further works in Caracas, but were consultants for the project of the Hospital Ortopédico Infantil (1945). The Hotel Avila since its opening became a reference for the entire region. It was listed as a Landmark in 1973.

Don Hatch (San Francisco)
Old US Embassy building in Venezuela (1957), with a metallic mural by American artist Harry Bertoia, La Floresta, Caracas.

Old US Embassy building in 1963 (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Don Hatch had worked with André Fouilhoux and Raymond Hood in the Rockefeller Center from 1934 to 1942 and in the Universal Exhibition of 1939. He arrived in Caracas in 1948, as a representative of IBEC Technical Services. Corporation In 1951 he formed his own office in Caracas (Oficina Don Hatch). He had designed in 1956 the U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince, Haiti.

In 1958 the building permit for the new U.S. Embassy building in Venezuela was signed, and construction was completed near to a major Caracas avenue at the end of 1959. The lot´s area is of 3,370 sq. meters and the building area 3,430 sq. meters. The elegant single-volume building shows Hatch´s concern for maximum efficiency, for the use of steel and for precise detailing. The metal mural over the entrance was designed by American sculptor and designer Harry Bertoia, and belongs to his Screens, a series of architectural sculptures from the 1950s. This work also performed as a brise-soleil.

Old US Embassy building in 2009 (f. "Sombras", 2009. Eternelbrillant - Flickr)

A new U.S. Embassy building was completed by Gunnar Birkerts & Associates in 1994 on a hill in Caracas. The former embassy building was altered in the north and south facades and lost its original exterior finish, before the building was listed as National Landmark in 2005. Bertoia´s mural is fortunately still in place.

Robert Moses (NY)
Arterial Plan for Caracas Project (1948), Caracas.

Arterial Plan for Caracas Project. The Expressway Caracas, connecting to the Caracas coastline. At the center, the proposed Caracas-La Guaira Railway (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana).

In 1947, Wallace K. Harrison contacted Robert Moses to do a new road proposal for Caracas to comply with the recent traffic recommendations planned for the city, as well as important urban improvements. Moses came to Caracas as an advisor to Nelson A. Rockefeller, in April 1948. His project, called the Arterial Plan for Caracas, done with six other American consultants, proposed the creation of a new road system with a express connection to La Guaira, the main seaport of the region. It was based on modern highways and distributors and on the inclusion of railways.

There were three new expressways in the plan: a main highway from Caracas to La Guaira; a highway along the river Guaire, and a third named Capitol, a sunken north-south speedway placed where now is Avenida Baralt, which would connect the two previous. Moses´Arterial Plan for Caracas was not built, but his ideas lie beneath the current Autopista Caracas-La Guaira and Autopista del Este, built in the 1950s and 1960s, respectively.

III. Oil Corporate Headquarters

Dale Badgeley & Bradbury (NY)
Headquarters of Shell Caribbean Petroleum Corporation (1946), San Bernardino, Caracas.

Headquarters of Shell Caribbean Petroleum Corporation (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

The Shell Building is the first of a set of headquarter buildings self-built in Caracas by the multinational oil companies. It opened in 1948. The project followed a Beauxartian scheme, creating a massive cornerstone that acts as the visual background for the axis of the Avenida Vollmer and its central mall. In doing so, this building belongs to the collection of monumental urban corner sites and "grand metropolis perspectives" typical of the neighborhood of San Bernardino, for which it was a trend-setter.

Headquarters of Shell Caribbean Petroleum Corporation (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

The project was built on a large island of 12,132 sq. meters. The rectangular plan contains two square courtyards (it was originally designed without air conditioning), around which are arranged 247 offices on three floors, completing 14,700 sq. meters. The parking lot was located on the periphery. On the facades, parallel and continuous trips of windows, glass blocks and brick, increase the light in the interior spaces and give the architecture its character and color. Its other main feature is a vast terrace to observe the attractive Caracas panorama. Shell held this seat from 1948 until 1959, when it moved further east to the La Estancia building, in Chuao, Caracas. It was listed as a National Landmark in 2009.

Lathrop Douglass (NY)

New headquarters of Creole Petroleum Corporation (1953-55), Los Chaguaramos, Caracas.

New headquarters of Creole Petroleum Corporation in 1955 (f. Archives of Sociedad Venezolana de la Industria Petrolera SVIP - via facebook group Caracas en retrospectiva)

In 1944, the Creole Petroleum Corporation (Standard Oil of New Jersey), decided to leave its old address at the Plaza Mohedano in Caracas, to construct their own building. In 1947 they purchased a land in Los Chaguaramos, near the new Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas.

In 1953, construction began. According to Architectural Record in 1955, the building was "a remarkable example of American design and construction technology exported to distant places." Its author, Lathrop Douglass, was a renowned architect who had theorized on the design of postwar buildings and was a specialist in industrial architecture, shopping malls and offices, including a building for the Standard Oil, built in 1945 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

New headquarters of Creole Petroleum Corporation (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas).

The Creole building is a suburban office building, economically efficient. Later on it would be called by its new inhabitants as "The White Giant of the South" due to its location, big and solitary, in the middle of a huge parking lot, its contact with the street. Douglass described it as a building for a tropical location with a great height. It presents a long and narrow single volume, with a glass façade walls and continuous windows. The long axis runs east-west, and the offices are looking north or south. The service areas are placed in the closed ends. Douglass had another commission in Caracas: the Palo Verde Plaza (1970s). It was listed as National Landmark in 2009.

IV. The Single Commission

Aymar Embury II (NY)
La Ciénaga House (c. 1940- demolished in the 1990´s), Caracas Country Club, Caracas.

La Ciénaga House in 1994 (f. 1994, Hannia Gómez - Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

This lost double-courtyard residence was inspired in the colonial houses of the Caracas historic center. Its Neocolonial architecture dated from c. 1940. It had tiled roofs, a single floor and a porch opening to the south into a vast garden. Embury was the author of many important works in New York City since the 1920s, and later from the 1930s to the 1950s, when he worked with Robert Moses. Among his buildings since the 1920s are college buildings, private residences, social clubs and public parks, like the Princeton Club in New York City, the University Club in Washington, D.C. and Central Park´s Children´s Zoo. This was Embury´s only work in Venezuela.

General Motors Overseas Operations (Detroit)
CARS building (1948), with a work by Venezuelan artist Jesús Soto, Los Chaguaramos, Caracas.

CARS building on the Avenida Los Ilustres in the 1950s (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas).

In 1948, on a corner site facing the Plaza Las Tres Gracias, near the Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas. the "land of great inventions", would begin construction the CARS building.

CARS building in the late 1940s (f. Armando Planchart - In: El Cerrito, Gio Ponti´s Masterpiece in Caracas).

The project was designed by the General Motors Overseas Operations of Detroit, Michigan (Job N. 7716), and owned by the Venezuelan businessman Armando Planchart, who later would also be the owner of world wide famous Villa Planchart (Gio Ponti. Caracas, 1957). It included an office tower, an exhibition space and a automobile retail and service facility, and originally depicted a 1979 work called "Ambiente", by the Venezuelan artist Jesús Soto.

CARS building in 2007 (f. 2007, Sara Maneiro - Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas).

The building, with its elegant and harmoniouly composed brick volumes and discreet office tower, is still one of the best buildings from the 1940s in the city. Although it was listed on 2009, a big cubic billboard disfigures the original volumetry.

Holabird, Root & Burgee (Chicago)
Hotel Tamanaco (1950-53), with Venezuelan architect Gustavo Guinand van der Valls, Las Mercedes, Caracas.

Hotel Tamanaco in the 1950s (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Built between 1950 and 53 at the end of Avenida Principal de Las Mercedes, the Hotel Tamanaco was designed by Holabird & Root & Burgee, a Chicago company that developed several hotel projects in Latin America for Intercontinental. In Venezuela they also built the Hotel del Lago, in Maracaibo.

Hotel Tamanaco in June, 1958 (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

The hotel is located on top of a hill which dominates the valley of Caracas. It features a "V" plan open to the visuals of El Avila mountain. Each of the two original wings of the building has 12 floors. The facades are composed with horizontal lines. A series of trays at the base of the building contain social areas that open onto a large terrace and a pool. Parking lots were placed in the back of the building. Initially the hotel had 400 rooms and 42 suites without air conditioning. This modern ziggurat is topped by a monumental sign with the name TAMANACO.

Hotel Tamanaco in 1999 (f. Phographic Archives of the Hotel Tamanaco, Caracas).

The President of the Republic and the president of Tamanaco, C. A. -the hotel´s construction company-, Gustavo San Román, chaired the opening ceremony of the hotel, about which stated the brochure: "Today, there is nothing more modern than what is eternal, and the Hotel Tamanaco is an example," and also: "This building is a testimony to the fact that Utopia may well be an urban paradise. " It was listed in 2005 as a National Landmark.

John & D. Eberson (NY)
Teatro Junín (1950), with Venezuelan architecture and construction firm Velutini & Bergamín, El Silencio, Caracas.

Teatro Junín (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

John Eberson with his son Drew designed in 1947 the Art Deco Teatro Junín, to be built in a corner site of the historic center of Caracas. John Eberson was a Romania-born American architect best known for historical movie palace designs. The Teatro Junín, with a capacity of 1218 seats, was the most luxurious movie theater that Caracas had so far, and marked the beginning of a new series of luxury cinemas in the 1950s.

Teatro Junín from Plaza O´Leary (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas).

The corner site volume is symmetrical and curved, with a cylinder that emerges two levels above the cornice of the rest of the building. An acrylic coating with a neon lighting system was used here, contrasting with the opaque frieze of the side facades. Access is emphasized with a marquee and a sign.

Teatro Junín in 2007 (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

The building has six levels with an independent office area in all floors and retail in the ground level. Although it was listed as a National Landmark in 2009, it remains badly damaged.

Arthur B. Froehlich & Associates (Beverly Hills)
Hipódromo La Rinconada (1957), with Brazilian landscape artist Roberto Burle Marx, La Rinconada, Caracas.

Hipódromo La Rinconada (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas).

Arthur B. Froehlich was an architect known for mid-century historical supermarkets and racetracks. The Hipódromo de La Rinconada was designed in 1957 and began construction on the site of La Rinconada belonging to the Hacienda El Valle. Its innovative stands systems was later applied in the reconstruction of the Longchamps racecourse in France, in Ascot, England, and in Belmont Park, in the United States. This hippodrome was one of the most modern in the continent, and was often compared with the best in the world. It was inaugurated on July 5, 1959.

Hipódromo La Rinconada (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas).

The project consisted of 45 buildings with galleries, administrative and sports areas and horse stables. The central building -with 18 main entries-, has three separate galleries, of three levels each, with a capacity of over 20,000 spectators. The large terraces and lounges, areas for spectators and spaces to watch the horses before the races, realize the importance given to the recreational and social life areas. It has three tracks, -two for races and one for training- a veterinary section with a hospital, stables, restaurant, pool equine and three galleries, one of which was luxuriously decorated, belonging to the Jockey Club.

Hipódromo La Rinconada in 2009 (f. 2009, "Trasmission cabine", Luis Romero R - Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas).

Three metallic spheres that look out over the roof of each of the stands, work as radio and television transmission booths. Although this complex was listed as a National Landmark in 2009,its original access areas have been altered with the construction of a new metro and railway station.

Richard J. Neutra (Los Angeles)
González-Gorrondona House (1963-65), with Spanish landscape architect Eduardo Robles Piquer, Parque Nacional El Avila, Caracas.

González-Gorrondona House (f. "Familia Gorrondona", Ignacio Martínez Gerdes. - Caracas en retrospectiva).

This spacious house was designed by Neutra in 1963 and built in 1965. It is located on a spectacular site: a cliff of El Avila mountain. No other private construction is permitted within the area of the Parque Nacional de El Avila, at the north of the city. To to justify it, its owner was conferred the honorary role of Park Guard. The González-Gorrondona House enjoys an exceptional view of Caracas, amidst carefully designed gardens.

González-Gorrondona House (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas).

Neutra´s project followed a first unbuilt project for the same place designed by Gio Ponti. The house´s aesthetics are that of a large modern structure with big cantilevered balconies and terraces thrown into the panorama.

González-Gorrondona House in 2010 (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas).

The González-Gorrondona House has four levels that adapt to the topography, large glass windows and a big rectangular pool. The drive way goes around the house. It is related to Neutra´s Californian houses, especially to the Lovell House. It belongs to the famous quintet of large villas built on the hills of Caracas in the 1950s. It was listed a National Landmark in 2005.

Johnson & Burgee (NY)
Cubo Negro (1974-75), with Venezuelan architect Enrique Gómez and Venezuelan artist Jesús Soto, Chuao, Caracas.

Cubo Negro (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas).

The "Cubo Negro" (The Black Cube) outstands for the purity of its volume, for the over whelming use of glass and of its black color, for the high quality of its construction, for the fine execution of the details and the plastic beauty of the central space.

Cubo Negro´s central space with art by Jesús Soto (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas).

A diagonal axis goes across the building´s volume, creating a large central space populated by tall columns, among which is integrated a hanging sculpture by Jesús Soto, called Suspended Virtual Volume (1979). The design dates from 1974-1975, and construction from 1976-1978. The land has an area of 18,200 sq. meters and the building of 96,000 sq meters. It has three parking basements, retail at the ground floor and office areas. It was listed as a National Landmark in 2005.

V. Linging On

Don Hatch (San Francisco)

Macoroma House (1951), Valle Arriba, Caracas.

Macoroma House (f. Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural, Caracas).

The Macoroma House was designed in 1951 for Venezuela businessman José Manuel Sánchez. The house is located on an irregular and gently sloping terrain of more than five thousand sq. meters, which dominates the visuals of Valle Arriba Golf Club´s courses. Is has a single level and a "U" shaped plan, and a cantilevered balcony that runs all across the southern facade, facing the mountain to the north.

Macoroma House (f. Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural, Caracas).

Three functional bodies are inscribed within a square of thirty meters on each side, organized around a landscaped central courtyard, which adapts to the topography. The house sits on a stone podium, visible on the rear facade. The concrete roof a is two-plane inverted plate with wide concrete eaves. It was listed as a National Landmark in 2005.

Don Hatch (San Francisco)

Las Mercedes Commercial Center (1955), Las Mercedes, Caracas.

Las Mercedes Commercial Center in 1957 (f. Mariano de Aldaca, Architectural Photography, Shell - CIC UCAB)

Las Mercedes Commercial Center in 1957 (f. Mariano de Aldaca, Architectural Photography, Shell - CIC UCAB)

Las Mercedes Commercial Center in 2005 (f. Archives Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Don Hatch (San Francisco)

Sucre building, Headquarters of Mobil Oil Corporation (1950s), La Floresta, Caracas.

Sucre building (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)
Sucre building (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)
Sucre building (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Don Hatch (San Francisco)

NCR building (1959), Colinas de Bello Monte, Caracas.

NCR bulding in 2004 (f. Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural, Caracas)

NCR building (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Clifford Charles Wendehack
Caracas Country Club Golf House (1930), with Venezuelan architect Carlos Guinand Sandoz, Caracas Country Club, Caracas.

Caracas Country Club Golf House (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Skecth drawing of Caracas Country Club Golf House, by Clifford Ch. Wendehack, 1929 (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Caracas Country Club Golf House in 2009 (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Clifford Charles Wendehack
Planchart & Co. building (1940s-demolished in the 1970s), Avenida Lecuna, Caracas.

Planchart & Co. building (f. Postcard - Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Planchart & Co. building (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Clifford Charles Wendehack
Villa Barberenia (1940s), Caracas Country Club, Caracas.

Villa Barberenia in the 1960s (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Villa Barberenia in 2006 (f. 2006, Hannia Gómez - Archives Fundación de la Memoria Urbana)

Clifford Charles Wendehack
Villa Mercedes (1930s), El Pedregal, Caracas.

Villa Mercedes in 2006 (f. 2006, Hannia Gómez - Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Clifford Charles Wendehack
Villa N. 7 (1940s), Los Chorros, Caracas.

Villa N. 7 in 2007 (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Clifford Charles Wendehack
Villa La Estanzuela (1940s), Valle Arriba, Caracas.

Villa La Estanzuela in 2006 (f. 2006, Hannia Gómez - Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Clifford Charles Wendehack
Peña Viva House (1940s), Caracas Country Club, Caracas.

Peña Viva House (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

Clifford Charles Wendehack

Phelps building (1940s), Avenida Urdaneta, Caracas.

Phelps building (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)
Phelps building main entrance (f. 2009, Gorgal - Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas)

John R. Van Kleek (NY)
Valle Arriba Golf Club House (1947), Valle Arriba, Caracas.

Valle Arriba Golf Club House (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas).

The Valle Arriba Golf Club House is located in the middle of the golf courses, and is the main building of the neighborhood. It is a social facility of a single level, and comprises several buildings. The initial main body opens to the south. The covered entrance is made through a Car Port. Is has a symmetrical plan and gabled tile roofs. It was built with ornamental elements from a Neocolonial Californian-inspired style.

Valle Arriba Golf Club in the 1950s (f. Archives of Fundación de la Memoria Urbana, Caracas).

The clubhouse opened on October 24, 1947. The two tennis courts were built in 1948, and the pool was concluded in 1950.

Valle Arriba Golf Club House´s pool (f. Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural, Caracas)

Successive extensions in time of the clubhouse´s main body to the east side (new lounges, snack bar, restaurant, gym, Pro-Shop and a Caddy House) completed an "L" plan that embraced the pool and a terrace with excellent view of the golf courses, the valley of Caracas and the Avila mountain. It was listed as a National Landmark in 2005.

References

- Preinventario Arquitectónico, Urbano y Ambiental Moderno de Caracas 2005/2006, Fundación de la Memoria Urbana / Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural, Caracas, 2007.

- Catálogos del Patrimonio Cultural, I Censo Nacional de Patrimonio, Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural, Caracas, 2005.

- Frechilla, Juan José Martín, y Texera Arnal, Yolanda (compilators), Petróleo nuestro y ajeno: la ilusión de modernidad, Consejo de Desarrollo Científico y Humanístico, UCV, Caracas, 2005.

- Gómez, Hannia. "Olmsted en Blandín", Papel literario, EL NACIONAL, Caracas, 2006.

- Lamprecht, Barbara, Neutra, The Complete Works, “Casa Gorrondona”, Taschen, 2000, Pp. 453-454.

- Newhouse, Victoria, Wallace K. Harrison, Architect, Rizzoli, New York, 1989, Pp. 96-97.

- ICOMOS Venezuela. "Venezuela Modern Heritage". Icomos World Report 2001-2002 on Monuments and Sites in Danger. HatR, 2001-2002.

Prepared by Hannia Gómez (DoCoMoMo VE), for DoCoMoMo US
Caracas, February 8, 2011.