Casa Wiechers-Villaronga Tickets & Tours
Casa Wiechers-Villaronga is a Classical Revival style mansion in Ponce, Puerto Rico designed and built in the early twentieth century. The house was acquired and restored by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and now operates as the Museo de la Arquitectura Ponceña (Museum of Ponce Architecture).
About
The Wiechers-Villaronga Residence was built in 1912 by Alfredo B. Wiechers, architect, for his own residence and studio, which he sold later to Mr. Julio Mercado, who in turn give it to his daughter, Elena Mercado and her husband Mr. Gabriel Villaronga as a wedding present. Wiechers was born in Ponce and studied at the School of Architecture in Paris, France, in 1901, where he was bestowed a gold medal for outstanding achievement and excellence during his professional studies. He graduated in 1905 and worked at the office of Enric Sagnier, a famous Spanish architect, in Barcelona, Spain. In 1911, he decided to work and live in Ponce; thus he designed and built his house and studio which he opened in 1912. In a short period of time, from 1911 to 1918, Wiechers was commissioned with various important buildings such as: the Loggia Aurora, Club Deportivo de Damas, the Havana Theatre, Banco of Ponce Building, and Santo Asilo de Damas Hospital among others, where he fully expressed the European Neo-Classical style which he learned from, and was influenced by, Enric Sagnier.