SANTO DOMINGO.- The "Dominican Architecture Day", which is commemorated every November 3, owes its origin to the architect Guillermo González Sánchez (1900-1970), author of the first modern building in Santo Domingo, the Copello Building, and the old Hotel Jaragua.
In 1988, President Dr. Joaquín Balaguer signed decree number 503-88 declaring the date in honor of the man considered by many to be the father of modern Dominican architecture.
Guillermo González was born in Santo Domingo to a Dominican father and a Cuban mother. As the eldest child, he grew up in a family with two brothers and four sisters. Thanks to his reputation in Dominican society and his Cuban heritage, his father was able to serve as a consul, which meant the family lived in several countries.
The return of the González Sánchez family to the country is specified in 1907; it is on this date that their entry into the Santo Tomas de Aquino school is documented, from which they graduated between 1917/1918. At a young age, they had the opportunity to work in the public works department, at the time when the United States government militarily occupied the country.
In 1921, he went to New York to study architecture. Between 1922 and 1924, while studying at Columbia University, he worked at Dennison & Hirons-Architects in New York City. In 1927, he entered Yale University, where upon graduation he won an award that allowed him to travel to Europe in July 1930, along with other classmates.
While in Europe, he made contact with his father, who was working as a consul in the city of Malaga, where he met the woman who would become his wife six years later and with whom he would return to the country to establish his residence, forming a family together with Mercedes Fernández Canivell, fathering his son Jorge and his daughter Blanca.
His most important works
Upon returning to the Dominican Republic in 1936, he developed some of the paradigmatic works of the modern style. He built the Ramfis Children's Park (1937) and the Copello Building (1939).
In 1942, Guillermo González Sánchez built the Hotel Jaragua, considered a masterpiece of modern Caribbean architecture, demolished in 1985; Hotel Hamaca, Hotel Hispaniola, Hipódromo Perla Antillana, the plant of the Cervecería Nacional Dominicana.
Copello Building. (External source).
I worked on several residences and at the Faculty of Health Sciences and on urban design at the National University of Santo Domingo (now the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo). I also designed the urban plan for the Fair of Peace and Fraternity of the Free World (1955), and the iconic staircase that connects the walled city with the port avenue.
Guillermo González died on November 13, 1970 in Santo Domingo and although he is not the first Dominican architect, he is undoubtedly the most international and emblematic for his architectural interventions in the city.
The language of his designs conveys the sublime and his great sense of modernity embodied in Dominican architecture.
Sources: Design Academy/Diario Libre.
