As San Juan nears the 500th anniversary of its founding, Arleen Pabón-Charneco explores the urban and architectural developments that have taken place over the last five centuries, transforming the site from a small Caribbean enclave to a sprawling modern capital. As the oldest European settlement in the United States and second oldest in the Western Hemisphere, San Juan is an example of the experimentation that took place in the American "borderland" from 1519 to 1898, when Spanish sovereignty ended. The author also investigates post-1898 examples to explore how architectural ideas were exported from the mainland United States. Pabón-Charneco covers the varied architectural periods and styles, aesthetic theories and conservation practices of the region and explains how the development of the architectural and urban artifacts reflect the political, cultural, social and religious aspects that metamorphosed a small military garrison into a urban center of international significance.

As San Juan nears the 500th anniversary of its founding, Arleen Pabón-Charneco explores the urban and architectural developments that have taken place over the last five centuries, transforming the site from a small Caribbean enclave to a sprawling modern capital. As the oldest European settlement in the United States and second oldest in the Western Hemisphere, San Juan is an example of the experimentation that took place in the American "borderland" from 1519 to 1898, when Spanish sovereignty ended. The author also investigates post-1898 examples to explore how architectural ideas were exported from the mainland United States. Pabón-Charneco covers the varied architectural periods and styles, aesthetic theories and conservation practices of the region and explains how the development of the architectural and urban artifacts reflect the political, cultural, social and religious aspects that metamorphosed a small military garrison into a urban center of international significance.

This book is the first work to describe the architecture of an entire complex society, from the inventive self-built dwellings of the poor to the elegant mansions of the rich. Abundantly illustrated with utilitarian black and white photos and good line-drawings. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Puerto Rico 1900 is a detailed examination of the products and the influences of that rich heritage. Each heavily illustrated chapter is devoted to one important aspect of this period, including the new facade treatments, the spatial sequences, and the thematic links between architecture and Latin American and Puerto Rican literature of the period.