Blas C. Silva Boucher (2 February 1869 - 27 January 1949) was a twentieth-century Puerto Rican

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

from

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...

. He is credited with the creation of the Ponce Creole

architectural style An architectural style is a classification of buildings (and nonbuilding structures) based on a set of characteristics and features, including overall appearance, arrangement of the components, method of construction, building materials used, for ...

, even though he was trained as an engineer, not a designer.

Early years

Blas Cornelio Silva Boucher was born in

Hormigueros Hormigueros (, ) is a Hormigueros barrio-pueblo, town and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality of Puerto Rico located in the western region of the island, northeast of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, Cabo Rojo; northwest of San Germán, Puerto Ri ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

on 2 February 1869.

Schooling

Silva received his high school diploma from the Liceo de Mayaguez (''Mayaguez Liceum'') and then studied engineering in Spain through a scholarship from the ''Sociedad Protectora de la Inteligencia'' (Intelligence Protection Society). In

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Silva did freelance school work in road, drainage, and ports engineering. He then entered the prestigious Spanish National Engineering School where he studied for eight years. He did his

practicum Work Practicum is the American term for a work placement and is an undergraduate or graduate-level course, often in a specialized field of study, that is designed to give students supervised practical application of a previously or concurrently stu ...

s in Aragon,

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

and Valencia, Spain.

Professional life

He returned to the Island where he took an engineering position in the Puerto Rico Public Works Bureau. Three years later, he resigned to establish his own private engineering practice. When the post of City Engineer became vacant in the city of Ponce, Silva was unanimously selected, from among various applicants, as the candidate to fill the position.

Death and legacy

Silva died in San Juan on 27 January 1949. Among Silva's most distinguished works are the

Font-Ubides House Casa Font-Ubides (English: Font-Ubides House), also known as the Residencia Monsanto (English: Monsanto Residence) is a historic building located on the north side of Castillo Street in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in the city's historic district. The bu ...

(1913) and the Subira Residence (1910), both listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. He also designed and built the

Salazar-Candal House Casa Salazar-Candal () is a historic building located on the southeast corner of Isabel and Mayor Cantera streets in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in the city's historic district. The building dates from 1911. It was designed by the architect Blas Silva ...

(1919).

Honors

He is honored at Ponce's Park of the Illustrious Ponce Citizens. Ponce's best-known bridge, '' Puente de los Leones'', located over Río Portugués on PR-1/Bulevar

Miguel Pou Miguel Pou Becerra (24 August 1880 – 6 May 1968) was a Puerto Rican oil canvas painter, draftsman, and art professor. Together with José Campeche and Francisco Oller, he has been called "one of Puerto Rico's greatest masters." He was an ...

at Calle Lolita Tizol, was named "Puente Blas Silva" before it was renamed Puente de Los Leones.

Contemporary recognition

The Puerto Rico Historical Preservation Office recently said of him, "Blas Silva was probably the most established of the 'wedding-cake architects' and was thus sought after mostly by the 'nouveau riche' of the period. Silva's houses are among the richest in Ponce, among which the ont-Ubidesstands out for its circular porches." It added that "Silva, as had other foreign-trained architects, succeeded in integrating classical education with the traditional elements of the Spanish Caribbean."Mariano G. Coronas Castro, Certifying Official; Felix Julian del Campo, State Historian; and Hector F. Santiago, State Architectural Historian, Puerto Rico Historic Preservation Office. (San Juan, Puerto Rico) August, 1987. In ''National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form (Residencia Subira)''. United States Department of the Interior. National Park Service. (Washington, D.C.) Page 3. Listing Reference Number 87001826. 28 October 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, Blas C. 1869 births 1949 deaths People from Hormigueros, Puerto Rico Architects from Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce Creole architects 20th-century Puerto Rican engineers 20th-century American engineers