Blog Post 9 - Chatting with Spain

Though many will naturally think of northern Europe as having a strong influence on architecture and design in the United States we should also remember the millennium-long exchange between the U.S. and Spain. Our first colonial power was Spain with the founding of St. Augustine in the 16th century (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/geo-flor/24.htm). As "The Oldest House" the Gonzalez-Alvarez House is an example of how Spanish colonialism has had implications on architecture in the United States.

The original single-story building was the first to be built by Spanish colonizers in St. Augustine, Florida (Image retrieved from: http://www.essential-architecture.com/STYLE/STY-18-01.htm)

Using the language of arches, stucco, and whitewashing the Gonzalez-Alvarez house brings, for the first time, architecture for warm and wet climates. The Spanish colonial style is repeated in the southwest and Californian building traditions of the later 18th century.

One of the few places where the U.S. was an outright colonizer is Guam. Taken from Spain after the Spanish-American War we briefly lost control of the territory during World War II only regain control in 1945 (http://guampedia.com/guams-political-status/). Many structures of the time were built by the U.S. Navy including the Guam Congress Building.

An example of U.S. military construction using concrete blocks this was the first of it's kind on the island of Guam (Both photos retrieved from: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/feature/asia/2007/guamcongress.htm)

Both buildings are examples of the firsts of their kind in a colonial context. Both bring a new form of building to the landscape. The use of materials for both buildings were also controversial. For the Gonzalez-Alvarez the builders had to get special permission to use locally sourced material to build something to withstand attacks from pirates and other would-be colonizers (http://www.staugustinehistoricalsociety.org/oldhousehistory.pdf). The majority of construction material for the Guam Congress Building was brought in from mainland U.S.

These buildings tell the stories of how two cultures can have a conversation through the buildings they design because of the use of new and different materials in order to address local needs. Use of materials common to institutional building in the U.S. meant actually bringing the materials to the island. The building created by the U.S. military is also quintessentially institutional more than it is where one might expect the legislative body of a democracy country. Both of these buildings show that it more important what the colonizers have to say than those who are colonized.