Plaza Degetau
Encyclopedia
Plaza Degetau, formally Plaza Federico Degetau, is the larger of two plaza
s at Plaza Las Delicias
, the main city square
in the city of Ponce
, Puerto Rico
. The other plaza is named Plaza Muñoz Rivera
and is located north of Plaza Degetau. The square is notable for its fountains and for the various monuments it contains. The historic Parque de Bombas
and Ponce Cathedral
buildings are located bordering the north side of this plaza. The square is the center of the Ponce Historic Zone
, and it is flanked by the historic Ponce City Hall
to the south, the Cathedral and historic firehouse to the north, the NRHP-listed Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño
and Banco de Ponce
buildings to the east, and the Armstrong-Poventud Residence
to the west. The square dates back to the early Spanish settlement in Ponce of 1670. It is the main tourist attraction of the city, receiving about a quarter of a million visitors per year.
According to the traditional Spanish colonial custom, a town's main square, or plaza, was the center of the town. In the case of Ponce, a Catholic church was built on the center of the plaza, thus splitting the plaza into two sections. Plaza Degetau is the southern of the two sections, with the other plaza, Plaza Muñoz Rivera
, located to the north of Plaza Federico Degetau
. Plaza Degetau measures a little over half of 8,800 square meters.
The history of Plaza Degetau dates back to as far as the creation of the first Catholic chapel in Ponce in 1670. It is also known that around 1840 Mayor Salvador de Vives
planted trees as a renovation project for plaza. It was first lit in 1864. The Plaza, as it stands today, was designed by architect Francisco Porrata-Doria in 1914.
In addition to the Cathedral and the firehouse, Plaza Degetau at one point also contained an open dining Moorish-style Arab kiosk that had been part of the 1882 Fair Exposition. The kiosk was still present at the time of the American invasion of the island in 1898 as reported by American photo-journalist William Dinwiddie
, but it was demolished in 1914.
, the first Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico
to the United States House of Representatives.
. The fountain, including a mechanical basement, was remodeled and restored in 1993. Its base was enlarged and a computerized lighting system was installed.
This plaza also features a statue of native composer
, Juan Morel Campos
. This statue was also produced at the workshop of Italian sculptor Luiggi Tomassi Also in this plaza is an obelisk
in honor of the firefighters that fought in the "Polvorín" fire (see Parque de Bombas
). The obelisk was unveiled in 1948, in time for the 50th anniversary of the frightful fire. There is also a statue, called Blind Justice, of a woman on a long dress with her eyes covered by a cloth wrapped around the top of her head. The woman's left hand holds a sword inside a shaft resting on the ground and there are two children sitting happily by her feet: one is embracing the lower part of the shaft, the other is playing with an orange tree branch.
and the historic Parque de Bombas
firehouse, on the south by Plaza Degetau street (also called Villa street and Comercio street), on the west by Union street, and on the east by Marina street. It is surrounded by two hotels, the Ponce City Hall
, two historic banks (Banco de Ponce
and Banco Crédito
), a long-standing ice cream parlor called "King's Ice Cream", and various boutiques and cafes.
The Plaza has wide mosaic-tile sidewalks, well-manicured flower gardens, well-trimmed bushes and Indian laurel
trees, late 1800s lamposts, and numerous marble benches. It is home to the Lions Fountain, "one of the most beautiful fountains in Puerto Rico." The fountain is made of marble and bronze. During the day, the plaza hustles with schoolchildren, shoppers, and tourists. After the sun sets, there are oftentimes live bands giving concerts to "multigenerational families."
Plaza
Plaza is a Spanish word related to "field" which describes an open urban public space, such as a city square. All through Spanish America, the plaza mayor of each center of administration held three closely related institutions: the cathedral, the cabildo or administrative center, which might be...
s at Plaza Las Delicias
Plaza Las Delicias
Plaza Las Delicias is the main plaza in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The square is notable for its fountains and for the various monuments it contains. The historic Parque de Bombas and Ponce Cathedral buildings are located within Plaza Las Delicias. Plaza Las Delicias is actually composed of...
, the main city square
Square
-Mathematics and science:* Square , a cryptographic block cipher* Square , a regular quadrilateral with four equal sides and four right angles* Square number, an integer that is the square of another integer-Construction:...
in the city of Ponce
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...
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. The other plaza is named Plaza Muñoz Rivera
Plaza Muñoz Rivera
Plaza Muñoz Rivera, formally Plaza Luis Muñoz Rivera, is the smaller of the two plazas at Plaza Las Delicias in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico and is located on the north side of Las Delicias. The square is notable for its fountains and for the statue of Luis Muñoz Rivera...
and is located north of Plaza Degetau. The square is notable for its fountains and for the various monuments it contains. The historic Parque de Bombas
Parque de Bombas
Parque de Bombas is a historic firehouse building in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is one of Puerto Rico's most notable buildings, with some considering it "by far the most easily recognized landmark in the Island". It is located at the Plaza Las Delicias town square, directly behind the Ponce Cathedral...
and Ponce Cathedral
Ponce Cathedral
The Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe or simply, Ponce Cathedral, is the cathedral for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ponce located in downtown Ponce, Puerto Rico. The cathedral lies in the middle of Ponce's town square, known as Plaza Las Delicias, located at the center of the Ponce Historic...
buildings are located bordering the north side of this plaza. The square is the center of the Ponce Historic Zone
Ponce 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...
, and it is flanked by the historic Ponce City Hall
Ponce City Hall
The Ponce City Hall is located on Calle Degetau, across from Plaza Las Delicias in the Ponce Historic Zone in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The building serves as the seat of the executive branch of government of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, including the office of the Mayor of Ponce. It is the...
to the south, the Cathedral and historic firehouse to the north, the NRHP-listed Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño
Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño (building)
The Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño building , a historic building in Ponce, Puerto Rico, was the first and main office of the famed Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño , and represents one of the last examples of the once popular turn-of-the-century eclectic architecture. The building was listed on the...
and Banco de Ponce
Banco de Ponce (building)
The Banco de Ponce building, a historic building in Ponce, Puerto Rico, was the first and main office of Banco de Ponce until the company merged with Banco Popular in 1990. Though its headquarters had moved to a presumptous building in Hato Rey's Milla de Oro by then, Banco de Ponce continued to...
buildings to the east, and the Armstrong-Poventud Residence
Armstrong-Poventud Residence
Residencia Armstrong-Poventud is a historic building located in the Ponce Historic Zone in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The construction of this home set the stage for the construction of other homes of similar architectural elements, character and opulence in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Ponce...
to the west. The square dates back to the early Spanish settlement in Ponce of 1670. It is the main tourist attraction of the city, receiving about a quarter of a million visitors per year.
History
Plaza Muñoz Rivera
Plaza Muñoz Rivera, formally Plaza Luis Muñoz Rivera, is the smaller of the two plazas at Plaza Las Delicias in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico and is located on the north side of Las Delicias. The square is notable for its fountains and for the statue of Luis Muñoz Rivera...
, located to the north of Plaza Federico Degetau
Federico Degetau
Federico Degetau y González, born in Ponce was a Puerto Rican politician, lawyer, writer, author, and the first Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico to the United States House of Representatives.-Early years:...
. Plaza Degetau measures a little over half of 8,800 square meters.
The history of Plaza Degetau dates back to as far as the creation of the first Catholic chapel in Ponce in 1670. It is also known that around 1840 Mayor Salvador de Vives
Salvador de Vives
Salvador de Vives Rodó was a Puerto Rican politician and Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico from 1840 to 1842 and then again from 1844 to 1845. He was the son of Quirse Vives and Ana Maria Rodo. He was a wealthy coffee plantation owner who established the now historic Hacienda Buena Vista. Under de...
planted trees as a renovation project for plaza. It was first lit in 1864. The Plaza, as it stands today, was designed by architect Francisco Porrata-Doria in 1914.
In addition to the Cathedral and the firehouse, Plaza Degetau at one point also contained an open dining Moorish-style Arab kiosk that had been part of the 1882 Fair Exposition. The kiosk was still present at the time of the American invasion of the island in 1898 as reported by American photo-journalist William Dinwiddie
William Dinwiddie
William Dinwiddie was an American journalist, war photographer, writer and colonial administrator in the Philippines. He was born in Charlottesville, Virginia.-Early life:...
, but it was demolished in 1914.
Name
Plaza Degetau was originally called Antigua Plaza Real (Old Royal Plaza). In the early 20th century its named was officially changed to Plaza Federico Degetau, in honor of Federico DegetauFederico Degetau
Federico Degetau y González, born in Ponce was a Puerto Rican politician, lawyer, writer, author, and the first Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico to the United States House of Representatives.-Early years:...
, the first Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico
Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico
The Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico is a non-voting member of the United States House of Representatives elected by the voters of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico every four years...
to the United States House of Representatives.
Features
Plaza Degetau is perhaps the best known of the two plazas and the one most often seen in pictures. In the center of this plaza lies the famous Fuente de los Leones (Lions Fountain). The large, round-shaped fountain is bounded by a low, marmol and granite wall. The fountain's wall boundary is shaped in the form of an regular octagon and built so that one of the vertices of the octagon points towards the historic Ponce City Hall. The fountain also features four lion statues and water that flows under colored lighting effects. The four lion statues are located one statue on each alternating vertice of the fountain's octagonal boundary wall. The fountain was purchased in 1939 at the New York World's Fair1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
. The fountain, including a mechanical basement, was remodeled and restored in 1993. Its base was enlarged and a computerized lighting system was installed.
This plaza also features a statue of native composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, Juan Morel Campos
Juan Morel Campos
Juan Morel Campos , sometimes erroneously spelled Juan Morell Campos, was a Puerto Rican composer, considered by many to be responsible for taking the genre of danza to its highest level.-Early years:...
. This statue was also produced at the workshop of Italian sculptor Luiggi Tomassi Also in this plaza is an obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
in honor of the firefighters that fought in the "Polvorín" fire (see Parque de Bombas
Parque de Bombas
Parque de Bombas is a historic firehouse building in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is one of Puerto Rico's most notable buildings, with some considering it "by far the most easily recognized landmark in the Island". It is located at the Plaza Las Delicias town square, directly behind the Ponce Cathedral...
). The obelisk was unveiled in 1948, in time for the 50th anniversary of the frightful fire. There is also a statue, called Blind Justice, of a woman on a long dress with her eyes covered by a cloth wrapped around the top of her head. The woman's left hand holds a sword inside a shaft resting on the ground and there are two children sitting happily by her feet: one is embracing the lower part of the shaft, the other is playing with an orange tree branch.
Setting
Plaza Degetau is bounded on the north by the Our Lady of Guadalupe CathedralPonce Cathedral
The Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe or simply, Ponce Cathedral, is the cathedral for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ponce located in downtown Ponce, Puerto Rico. The cathedral lies in the middle of Ponce's town square, known as Plaza Las Delicias, located at the center of the Ponce Historic...
and the historic Parque de Bombas
Parque de Bombas
Parque de Bombas is a historic firehouse building in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is one of Puerto Rico's most notable buildings, with some considering it "by far the most easily recognized landmark in the Island". It is located at the Plaza Las Delicias town square, directly behind the Ponce Cathedral...
firehouse, on the south by Plaza Degetau street (also called Villa street and Comercio street), on the west by Union street, and on the east by Marina street. It is surrounded by two hotels, the Ponce City Hall
Ponce City Hall
The Ponce City Hall is located on Calle Degetau, across from Plaza Las Delicias in the Ponce Historic Zone in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The building serves as the seat of the executive branch of government of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, including the office of the Mayor of Ponce. It is the...
, two historic banks (Banco de Ponce
Banco de Ponce (building)
The Banco de Ponce building, a historic building in Ponce, Puerto Rico, was the first and main office of Banco de Ponce until the company merged with Banco Popular in 1990. Though its headquarters had moved to a presumptous building in Hato Rey's Milla de Oro by then, Banco de Ponce continued to...
and Banco Crédito
Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño (building)
The Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño building , a historic building in Ponce, Puerto Rico, was the first and main office of the famed Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño , and represents one of the last examples of the once popular turn-of-the-century eclectic architecture. The building was listed on the...
), a long-standing ice cream parlor called "King's Ice Cream", and various boutiques and cafes.
The Plaza has wide mosaic-tile sidewalks, well-manicured flower gardens, well-trimmed bushes and Indian laurel
Indian laurel
Indian laurel can refer to certain species of fig trees or banyans:* Ficus microcarpa * Ficus retusaThough the though leaves look somewhat similar, they are not at all related to Bay Laurel ....
trees, late 1800s lamposts, and numerous marble benches. It is home to the Lions Fountain, "one of the most beautiful fountains in Puerto Rico." The fountain is made of marble and bronze. During the day, the plaza hustles with schoolchildren, shoppers, and tourists. After the sun sets, there are oftentimes live bands giving concerts to "multigenerational families."
External links
- Plaza Las Delicias video - featuring the Lions Fountain
- Information about Ponce's touristic places
- Photo of the fountain prior to the Lions Fountain Accessed December 15, 2010.
- Plaza Degetau in the 1940s with Blind Justice Statue pictured. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
- Arab kiosk at Plaza Degetau. Retrieved January 8, 2011.