Old Railway Station in the Old San Juan
Description
Building of the old railway station in the Old San Juan. You can observe the streets Comercio and Recinto Sur divided by a transit median that has power lines poles along its length. The building that is to the left is cream color and is known as the old railway stationing San Juan. Shows an architectonic design influenced by the style called Second Empire and the Neo-renaissance. It has a clock tower, mansard roofs, bossage, moldings and a balustrade railing delimiting the area. Its windows are double and made of wood and are painted with green color. From a distance you can observe other buildings, automobiles and people. Additionally, there are sidewalks, streets paved with asphaltic concrete, the ruins of a defensive wall, a metal fence, antennas, bushes and trees.| Origin Name |
FGj.1000.D0023
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| Relation |
Archivo de Arquitectura y Construcción de la Universidad de Puerto Rico > Colección Frederick Gjessing > FGJ Serie Fotografías > FGj 1000 D0001 - 0032 Marina
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| Geographical Coverage |
San Juan
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| Date |
1953-03/1954-09
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| Descriptive Notes |
Title assigned by the cataloging team. The general description contains information provided by the Archive of Architecture and Construction of the University of Puerto Rico (AACUPR) ad the book “Photographic Survey of San Juan Antiguo” by the architect Frederick C. Gjessing.
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| Descripción decolonial |
The Old Railroad Station in Old San Juan was built in 1913 to maximize the transportation of passengers and sugar cane through different parts of the island, connecting with the sugar mills. Its imposing clock tower is similar to the Beaux Arts architectural design of the Bayonne station in France, reflecting an evident Eurocentric influence in the aesthetics. With the arrival of Operation Bootstrap and the administration of Luis Muñoz Marín in the governorship, the plan for massive industrialization in Puerto Rico required dealing a hard blow to the absentee sugar capital. The planning of state roads and highways designed for individual automobile transportation weakened the powerful railroad industry. The station ceased operations in 1957 and ten years later it was demolished. This can be interpreted as the breaking point of Puerto Rican public transportation, accelerating the process of consumerist capitalist automobile individualism. The privatisation of spaces is a sociocultural aspect of neoliberalism, which was already taking shape in the face of a society dependent on cars. This became more than evident when in 1984 it was decided to build a car park in the same space on Paseo Covadonga.
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| Decolonial Subject | |
| Rights |
The PRAHA does not own the rights to this resource. The user must contact the repository or archive that holds the physical document to determine the restrictions that may apply under the Copyright and Intellectual Property Law or by agreements agreed with donors.
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| Editor |
Fundación Luis Muñoz Marín
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| Resource Format |
JPEG
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| Resource Type |
Image
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