Old Ponce Casino
Encyclopedia
The Antiguo Casino de Ponce (English: Old Ponce Casino), or simply the Casino de Ponce, is a historic structure, built in 1922 and located in Ponce, Puerto Rico
. Originally built as a social club for Ponce's elite, it is currently used as the premier reception center
of "The Noble City of Puerto Rico"
. The building, designed by Agustin Camilo Gonzalez in the Second Empire and Neo-Rococo styles, has a French facade and tones. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on October 28, 1987. It is located at the corner of Marina and Luna streets. The building has been called "an icon of Ponce's architecture, history, and identity." It is owned and administered by the Ponce Municipal Government.
unit, tax collector
's office, and as a temporary city hall
. The building was designed by Agustin Canilo Gonzalez, and the artesanical works were the product of Jose Cott, Victor Cott, and Camilo Gonzalez (Jr.) Local painter Don Miguel Pou
was responsible for the painted tapestries.
of southern Puerto Rico in the late 19th and early 20th century.
From the architectural standpoint, the Old Casino is significant because in its structure the architect managed to incorporate the 19th century (Second Empire, neo-Rococo and other architectural styles in concrete construction:"It represents a transitional point from the brick and stucco classical
Spanish traditional construction to the modern, reinforced-concrete technology of the United States."
From a social and cultural standpoint, the Old Casino is significant in that it expresses to this day the lifestyle of the area's wealthy families during the early decades of the 20th century. It is a reminder of how they lived and how World War II changed that lifestyle for ever. The lavish second floor ballroom
was extensively used prior to WWII as the de-facto meeting place for the most wealthy and influential families in Ponce and Puerto Rico. The Casino is associated with the social club that made the structure come to life, a club that has ceased to exist as today's way of life have pushed aside the lifestyle of the aristocracy of yesterday.
. The area of the lot on which it sits measures approximately 38 X 36 meters. It has a chamfer
ed corner at the intersection of the two streets. The architectural style is Rococo
-like, including its main relief
and mansard roof. Most of the building as it exists today is part of the original structure, the exception being a few of the ground level doors.
. There is a frontispiece
that includes Tuscan
columns and pilaster
s supporting an architrave
and blind-arch tympanum
above. The spandrel
and tympanum areas are terminated in highly detailes plaster
reliefs. The other bays (1, 2, 4, and 5) on the northern facade consist of simpler, narrow, arch openings capped by hood-moulds and keystone
s.
At the upper level of the same facade, the three central bays are articulated as wide, square openings with Tuscan half-columns within, supporting the lintel at either extreme. Bays 1 and 5 are each articulated by a quoin
ed surround and an angular pediment
, supported by brackets and decorated with an ornamental relief tympanum.
ed lintels.
ed bay is particularly ornate, as it recesses slightly and then curves outward in a baroque fashion. At the ground floor, a wide, segmental arch opening with a hood-mould accesses secondary office space. At the upper level, a rectangular doorway is crowned by an intricate cameo with angel figures on either side of it. The upper level bay is framed by Tuscan columns which spring from a string-course at the baluster
level and support a projection of the building cornice
.
above the cornice completes the composition. In addition, broken-scroll pediments above the parapet accentuate the composition's rhythm at the central bay of the west facade, the extreme bays of both facades, and the corner chamfer. A "mission
-tile" mansard roof completes the composition and accentuates the French influences of the design.
, except for bays 2 and 3 and bays 5 and 6 of the west facade, which share wider, two-bay balconies. The chamfered bay contains a semi-elliptical balcony which smoothly turns the corner of the two facades.
accessible from the Luna street facade. The second-floor Casino facilities include four main rooms. The Felices Dias ballroom is the largest at 70' x 40.5', and it faces west. It accommodates 300 people. The Impromptu Room faces north and is located next to the bar. It is commonly used as the buffet dinner food area. The third room, Tu y Yo (English: You and I), and informally known as the Blue Room for the color on its walls, faces south and is used only for events consisting of more than 150 guests. The chamfered corner of the building has a smaller, more intimate room than the others, appropriately called The Chamfered Room. It has five doors, including three interior doors plus two exterior doors including the chamfered door.
Other second floor facilities are the kitchen, bar, restrooms, a 16' x 16' balcony
and a south-facing terrace
. Casino guests also have access to a spacious courtyard
on the ground floor featuring a central water fountain. Access to the first floor courtyard is either from a street entrance on Luna street, via an open exterior second-floor stairway that leads directly to the courtyard, or via the elevator, which opens to the exterior, but covered, hallway next to the courtyard.
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...
. Originally built as a social club for Ponce's elite, it is currently used as the premier reception center
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
of "The Noble City of Puerto Rico"
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...
. The building, designed by Agustin Camilo Gonzalez in the Second Empire and Neo-Rococo styles, has a French facade and tones. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on October 28, 1987. It is located at the corner of Marina and Luna streets. The building has been called "an icon of Ponce's architecture, history, and identity." It is owned and administered by the Ponce Municipal Government.
History
When built in 1922, it was actually the replacement quarters for Ponce's exclusive club, the previous one having been destroyed by a hurricane. In addition to its original use, the building has also served as postal office, a public healthPublic health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
unit, tax collector
Tax collector
A tax collector is a person who collects unpaid taxes from other people or corporations. Tax collectors are often portrayed in fiction as being evil, and in the modern world share a somewhat similar stereotype to that of lawyers....
's office, and as a temporary city hall
City hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall or a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city...
. The building was designed by Agustin Canilo Gonzalez, and the artesanical works were the product of Jose Cott, Victor Cott, and Camilo Gonzalez (Jr.) Local painter Don Miguel Pou
Miguel Pou
Miguel Pou y Becerra was a Puerto Rican oil canvas painter. He was a painter, draftsman, and professor. Together with José Campeche and Francisco Oller, he has been called "one of Puerto Rico's greatest masters." He was an exposer of the impressionist movement. During his life he carried out...
was responsible for the painted tapestries.
Significance
The Old Casino de Ponce stands as a reminder of the welathy aristocracyAristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
of southern Puerto Rico in the late 19th and early 20th century.
From the architectural standpoint, the Old Casino is significant because in its structure the architect managed to incorporate the 19th century (Second Empire, neo-Rococo and other architectural styles in concrete construction:"It represents a transitional point from the brick and stucco classical
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
Spanish traditional construction to the modern, reinforced-concrete technology of the United States."
From a social and cultural standpoint, the Old Casino is significant in that it expresses to this day the lifestyle of the area's wealthy families during the early decades of the 20th century. It is a reminder of how they lived and how World War II changed that lifestyle for ever. The lavish second floor ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
was extensively used prior to WWII as the de-facto meeting place for the most wealthy and influential families in Ponce and Puerto Rico. The Casino is associated with the social club that made the structure come to life, a club that has ceased to exist as today's way of life have pushed aside the lifestyle of the aristocracy of yesterday.
Physical appearance
The Casino de Ponce is a two-story, concrete structure on the southeast corner of Marina and Luna streets in the historic urban center of PoncePonce Historic Zone
The Ponce Historic Zone is a historic district in downtown Ponce, Puerto Rico with construction that dates to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The zone was originally designated in 1962, and then it only included the center core of the city, but it has since been expanded to...
. The area of the lot on which it sits measures approximately 38 X 36 meters. It has a chamfer
Chamfer
A chamfer is a beveled edge connecting two surfaces. If the surfaces are at right angles, the chamfer will typically be symmetrical at 45 degrees. A fillet is the rounding off of an interior corner. A rounding of an exterior corner is called a "round" or a "radius"."Chamfer" is a term commonly...
ed corner at the intersection of the two streets. The architectural style is Rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
-like, including its main relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
and mansard roof. Most of the building as it exists today is part of the original structure, the exception being a few of the ground level doors.
Facades
The building consists of three facades: a northern facade with five bays, a western facade with seven bays, and a single-bay chamfered facade at the intersection of the two other facades.North facade
The main entry to the building is via Bay 3 on the north facade at Luna Street. The architectural details on this facade are markedly Spanish-baroqueBaroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
. There is a frontispiece
Frontispiece (architecture)
In architecture, a frontispiece is the combination of elements that frame and decorate the main, or front, door to a building. The term is especially used when the main entrance is the chief face of the building rather than being kept behind columns or a portico. Early German churches often...
that includes Tuscan
Tuscan order
Among canon of classical orders of classical architecture, the Tuscan order's place is due to the influence of the Italian Sebastiano Serlio, who meticulously described the five orders including a "Tuscan order", "the solidest and least ornate", in his fourth book of Regole generalii di...
columns and pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s supporting an architrave
Architrave
An architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an architectural element in Classical architecture.-Classical architecture:...
and blind-arch tympanum
Tympanum (architecture)
In architecture, a tympanum is the semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance, bounded by a lintel and arch. It often contains sculpture or other imagery or ornaments. Most architectural styles include this element....
above. The spandrel
Spandrel
A spandrel, less often spandril or splaundrel, is the space between two arches or between an arch and a rectangular enclosure....
and tympanum areas are terminated in highly detailes plaster
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
reliefs. The other bays (1, 2, 4, and 5) on the northern facade consist of simpler, narrow, arch openings capped by hood-moulds and keystone
Keystone (architecture)
A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
s.
At the upper level of the same facade, the three central bays are articulated as wide, square openings with Tuscan half-columns within, supporting the lintel at either extreme. Bays 1 and 5 are each articulated by a quoin
Quoin (architecture)
Quoins are the cornerstones of brick or stone walls. Quoins may be either structural or decorative. Architects and builders use quoins to give the impression of strength and firmness to the outline of a building...
ed surround and an angular pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
, supported by brackets and decorated with an ornamental relief tympanum.
West facade
The seven-bay Marina Street facade (the west facade) consists of an ABABA rhythm in which unit A is identical to bays 1 and 5 of the north facade. Unit B consists of ground-storey bays with wider, circular-arch openings and rectangular upper-level openings with quoined surrounds and voussoirVoussoir
A voussoir is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, used in building an arch or vault.Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The keystone is the center stone or masonry unit at the apex of an arch. A...
ed lintels.
Chamfered facade
The single chamferChamfer
A chamfer is a beveled edge connecting two surfaces. If the surfaces are at right angles, the chamfer will typically be symmetrical at 45 degrees. A fillet is the rounding off of an interior corner. A rounding of an exterior corner is called a "round" or a "radius"."Chamfer" is a term commonly...
ed bay is particularly ornate, as it recesses slightly and then curves outward in a baroque fashion. At the ground floor, a wide, segmental arch opening with a hood-mould accesses secondary office space. At the upper level, a rectangular doorway is crowned by an intricate cameo with angel figures on either side of it. The upper level bay is framed by Tuscan columns which spring from a string-course at the baluster
Baluster
A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...
level and support a projection of the building cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
.
Embellishments
The entire composition is crowned by a cornice which follows the modulation of the facade. A balustered parapetParapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
above the cornice completes the composition. In addition, broken-scroll pediments above the parapet accentuate the composition's rhythm at the central bay of the west facade, the extreme bays of both facades, and the corner chamfer. A "mission
Mission Revival Style architecture
The Mission Revival Style was an architectural movement that began in the late 19th century for a colonial style's revivalism and reinterpretation, which drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century Spanish missions in California....
-tile" mansard roof completes the composition and accentuates the French influences of the design.
Upper level
In plan, the main entrance at the north facade accesses directly an ample stairway which leads to the upper level. At this level two large rooms serve as ballrooms: a major open space along the west wall and a smaller reception area on the north. The ground level is currently utilized as office space by a government agency. Access to these areas is through various doorways along the street wall. All upper level bays open out onto individual balustered balconiesBalcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
, except for bays 2 and 3 and bays 5 and 6 of the west facade, which share wider, two-bay balconies. The chamfered bay contains a semi-elliptical balcony which smoothly turns the corner of the two facades.
Today
Today the entire first floor of the building accommodates offices of the Ponce municipal government. The Casino belongs to the people of the municipality of Ponce. The government promotes it as "the ballroom of excellence in the southern region of Puerto Rico," (Spanish: "Salon de Recepcion por Excelencia en el Area Sur") and the government makes it available for social and business events.Facilities
Event facilities are all located on the second floor. Access to the second floor facilities is via a wide wooden stairwayStairway
Stairway, staircase, stairwell, flight of stairs, or simply stairs are names for a construction designed to bridge a large vertical distance by dividing it into smaller vertical distances, called steps...
accessible from the Luna street facade. The second-floor Casino facilities include four main rooms. The Felices Dias ballroom is the largest at 70' x 40.5', and it faces west. It accommodates 300 people. The Impromptu Room faces north and is located next to the bar. It is commonly used as the buffet dinner food area. The third room, Tu y Yo (English: You and I), and informally known as the Blue Room for the color on its walls, faces south and is used only for events consisting of more than 150 guests. The chamfered corner of the building has a smaller, more intimate room than the others, appropriately called The Chamfered Room. It has five doors, including three interior doors plus two exterior doors including the chamfered door.
Other second floor facilities are the kitchen, bar, restrooms, a 16' x 16' balcony
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
and a south-facing terrace
Terrace
A terrace may refer to:*Terrace , a leveled surface*Terrace , a raised flat platform*Terrace , a step-like landform that borders a shoreline or river floodplain...
. Casino guests also have access to a spacious courtyard
Courtyard
A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. These areas in inns and public buildings were often the primary meeting places for some purposes, leading to the other meanings of court....
on the ground floor featuring a central water fountain. Access to the first floor courtyard is either from a street entrance on Luna street, via an open exterior second-floor stairway that leads directly to the courtyard, or via the elevator, which opens to the exterior, but covered, hallway next to the courtyard.