Condado ( Spanish for ''county'') is a highly urbanized beachfront

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...

, commercial, and residential district with various upscale hotels, restaurants, boutique shops, and condos in the

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city delimited by functional (e.g. residential, comm ...

of Santurce in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

, the capital

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

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 ...

. Located about from the

Old San Juan Old San Juan () is a historic district located at the "northwest triangle" of the San Juan Islet, islet of San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan. Its area roughly correlates to the Ballajá, Old San Juan, Ballajá, Catedral, Old San Juan, ...

historic quarter, Isla Verde resort area, Hato Rey business center, and SJU airport, the district is centered around Ashford Avenue, which extends east-west for about from the Parque residential area to

San Juan Islet San Juan Islet ( Spanish: ''Isleta de San Juan'') is a islet or small island on San Juan Bay in the Atlantic coast of northern Puerto Rico. Home to Old San Juan, it is the site of the oldest permanent European settlement in Puerto Rico (1521), ...

, where Old San Juan is situated. Condado is named after

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Pablo Ubarri, who built the San Juan Tramway, the first passenger

steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

and electric tramway in the main island operating from Old San Juan through Santurce to the

Río Piedras Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Flo ...

district, in 1880. Vacant until the turn of the 20th century, the

real estate development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parce ...

of Condado began with the construction of the Ashford Presbyterian Community Hospital in 1904 by Grace Williams Atkins, ''Casa Mora'' ( Moor House) in 1909 and Dos Hermanos Bridge in 1910 by Hernand and Sosthenes Behn, "Condado"

passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

electric tramway in 1911 by Porto Rico Railway, Light & Power Co. (PRRL&P), Ashford House in 1912 by Bailey Ashford, and Vanderbilt Hotel in 1919 by Frederick Vanderbilt. Aerial View of Condado San Juan

Setting

Condado is an upscale neighborhood located on the

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

. It is located east of the historic district of

, which is situated on

. It is one of 40 subbarrios of Santurce. The land area measures with a resident population of 6,170 according to the 2000 United States Census. The eastern border is marked by De Diego Avenue and its straight extension towards the Atlantic coast. On the south, the subbarrio is bounded by Wilson Street, Aldea Street, Expreso Baldorioty de Castro, Piccioni Street and Delcasse Street, and by the Condado Lagoon (from east to west). At the westernmost point is the Dos Hermanos Bridge, where Ashford Avenue ends and leads into Old San Juan. In the north are the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean next to hotels and other attractions such as nightclubs, casinos, shops and restaurants. Condado is one of the island's primary tourist destinations. In recent years, the Condado district has become associated with wealth and status. Properties are scarce, hard to come by and extremely expensive. It is sometimes called the “Manhattan of Puerto Rico” and properties tend to hover in the millions of dollars. It is one of the most desirable places to live on the island and as such commands a premium.

20th century

Condado began its process of urbanization in 1908 by two American industrialists, Hernan and Sosthenes, also known as the Behn Brothers. The quarter became a typical

streetcar suburb A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Such suburbs developed in the United States in the years before the automobile, when ...

to the traditional urban center of Old San Juan. Its growth and development was mostly shaped by a transportation influenced suburbanization developed on a

grid plan In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogon ...

. The neighborhood experienced an

economic boom An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with ...

in the first decades of the 20th century when some of the wealthiest families built their homes in the area. The Vanderbilts built a summer home in 1919 which today has been converted into the luxurious

Condado Vanderbilt Hotel The Condado Vanderbilt Hotel is a historic luxury hotel built in 1919 and located on Ashford Avenue in the district of Condado in San Juan, capital city of the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. It was listed on the National Register of Historic ...

. The Behn Brothers also built their home in Condado and to their memory, Dos Hermanos Bridge (or "Two Brothers Bridge" in English) is named in their honor as founders of Puerto Rico Telephone and the new electric tramway line that linked ''the county'' to Old San Juan. The 1950s-60s era saw another boom in Condado, with the rapid industrialization of

, this flamboyant locale was becoming a popular tourist destination. Large hotels like the Caribe Hilton Hotel and La Concha Resort were built as part of a government sponsorship program under the Operation Bootstrap brand. A convention center was built to host activities while many families began to move in during the development of high-end and high-rise apartment buildings. In fact, Ashford Avenue was named after another well-known ''Condado'' resident Dr. Bailey Ashford. It runs through the subbarrio and leads toward the Puente Dos Hermanos.

Demographics

In 2010, Condado had a population of 4,908 and a population density of 15,832.3 persons per square mile.

21st century

Condado looks quite different from what it did at the turn of the century. Some of the luxurious homes which still remain nestled between the high-rise condominiums have been converted into small inns, shops, museums or restaurants. Dr. Bailey Ashford's home has been remodeled and there are plans to turn it into a museum. Condado's main public space is La Ventana al Mar, designed by architect and urbanist Andrés Mignucci. The park is flanked by two of Condado's landmark hotels: to the west by the

(1919), designed by Warren and Whitmore, and to the east by the La Concha Hotel (1957), designed by Toro Ferrer. One of the first schools constructed by the United States is in Condado. Designed by Antonin Nechodoma, it was designated as a historic site in November 2020 by the Puerto Rico Planning Board.

Public transportation

Condado is served by the

Puerto Rico Metropolitan Bus Authority The Autoridad Metropolitana de Autobuses (AMA, English: Puerto Rico Metropolitan Bus Authority) is a government-owned corporation and public transport bus service based in the San Juan metropolitan area. It is part of the Puerto Rico Department o ...

with two bus routes: T21 and D53.

Gallery

Highrise on Ashford Avenue, Condado, Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico.jpg, Building on Ashford Avenue Condado Beach architecture, San Juan, PR.jpg , Buildings on Ashford Avenue Hotel La Concha.jpg, La Concha Hotel La Ventana al Mar 07.jpg, Condado Beach.jpg, Condado Beach at La Concha Hotel Condado's beach.jpg ,

Flag of Puerto Rico The flag of Puerto Rico (), officially the Flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (), represents Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans, its people. It consists of five equal horizontal stripes, alternating from red to white, with a blue equilateral t ...

on Condado Beach

References

External links

*{{Commons category-inline Streetcar suburbs Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico