Casa Serrallés (Spanish for ''Serrallés Residence'') is a historic building in the city of

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 ...

. It was built in 1911 by Alfredo Wiechers Pieretti for Don Juan Eugenio Serrallés Pérez, son of businessman

Juan Serrallés Colón Juan Eugenio Serrallés Colón (1836–1921) was the founder of Hacienda Mercedita in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and what was to become Destileria Serralles, producers of " Don Q", a brand of Puerto Rican rum. Family and early years Juan Serrallés C ...

, founder of

Destilería Serrallés Destilería Serrallés is a rum producer located in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and best known for its Don Q rum brand. The company is Puerto Rico's oldest family-owned company and has revenues of over 100 million dollars. In 2011, it was responsible f ...

, and himself the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the company that founded Ron

Don Q Don Q is a Puerto Rican rum, distilled, manufactured, bottled, and distributed by Destilería Serrallés from its corporate facility in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Don Q, "Puerto Rico's best-known rum", is the top-selling rum in Puerto Rico, where ov ...

. The building is currently home to the Museo de la Música Puertorriqueña. It was listed on 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 ...

in 2025.

History

The house was built in 1911 by Alfredo Weichers,"Travel Ponce: Museum of Architecture: Casa Wiechers Villaronga."
Retrieved 26 March 2011.The Puerto Rico Tourism Company states, a
THIS
location that its architect was Juan Bertoly Calderoni. for Juan Eugenio Serrallés Pérez and his wife Rosa María Sánchez.

Location

The house is located on the southeast corner of Calle Isabel and Calle Salud, in the

Ponce Historic Zone The Ponce Historic Zone (Spanish: ''Zona Histórica de Ponce'') is a historic district in downtown Ponce, Puerto Rico, consisting of buildings, plazas and structures with distinctive architectures such as Neoclásico Isabelino and the Ponce Cr ...

. The location of the house, together with its historic significance, courtyard, and architectural details, make it unique among other Puerto Rico homes. The structure is located less than one block from Casa Rosita Serrallés, another—though much smaller—Serrallés residence.

Significance

Casa Serrallés was built as the exclusive residence of Don Eugenio Serrallés, a leader in the

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

industry during the early part of the 20th century. The building is significant from the architectural, historical, and cultural perspectives. Architecturally, the building represents an example of one major architectural design popular among the elite class of the early 20th century:

Neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

Historically, the building is a reminder of the cultural and economic changes that southern Puerto Rico experienced in the 1920s. "Ponce's dependence on the sugar cane industry at the close of the 19th century, created an atmosphere of development from which evolved a series of intrinsic cultural characteristics and afforded great wealth to many families involved in the industry. The wealthy families generally chose Europe as the model for the direction that cultural endeavors would take."Luis Muñoz Polanco, Engineer, Government of the Municipality of Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico. Director, Office of Planning and Budget, Government of the Municipality of Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico. 7 July 1980. In National Register of Historic Places Registration Form - Castillo de Serrallés. United States Department of the Interior. National Park Service. (Washington, D.C.) Section 8, Page 3. Listing Reference Number 80004494. 3 November 1980. Culturally, the building is important because it was the downtown residence of one of the wealthiest families in 19th-century

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 ...

, and one that so much influenced its economy. The original hill-top residence of the family was

Castillo Serralles Castillo (Spanish for 'castle') may refer to: * Castillo (surname), including a list of people with the name * Castillo, Dominican Republic * Castillo, Álava, Spain * Castillo CF, a Spanish football team See also

* * Del Castillo (disambi ...

, today a historic structure listed in the

NRHP The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

Physical characteristics

The house is a single floor building. Access to the main entrance of the house is from the Isabel street. As a corner structure, the building occupies a large property and its east-to-west axis is articulated as a very long structure. It was built in 1911 by local

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Alfredo Wiechers Pieretti, and completed in 1912.''Porta Caribe: Ponce and around.''
Stephen Keeling. "The Rough Guide to Puerto Rico." Rough Guides Limited. 2008. Page 215. Retrieved 10 July 2012. The house has stained-glass windows, hand-painted floor tiles, carved

mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...

louvres, and 12-foot ceilings. The house was sold to the city in 1992, after a long period of abandonment. The property includes a large courtyard. The back of the property contains a spacious finished private yard, complete with a

bar area, where—no doubt—guests were gracefully entertained in bygone years.

Today

In 1996, the

Institute of Puerto Rican Culture An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

restored the building to much of its yesteryear splendor and converted it into a museum showcasing the music of Puerto Rico. Its various rooms display Puerto Rican musical instruments and various memorabilia, and its family room contains a huge mural by

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 ...

called "Los Músicos de Ponce" and displaying the greatest musical talent from Ponce until that time.

Notes

References

External links

Casa Serrallés photo in Flickr

Casa Serrallés drawings
at the Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Casa Serralles Historic house museums in Puerto Rico Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in Puerto Rico Houses completed in 1911 1911 establishments in Puerto Rico Buildings and structures in Ponce, Puerto Rico Neoclassical architecture in Puerto Rico National Register of Historic Places in Ponce, Puerto Rico