Beatriz del Cueto facts for kids

Beatriz Del Cueto López-Hidalgo (born in 1952) is an architect from Cuba. She is an expert in saving and restoring old buildings. She moved to Puerto Rico in 1960 and has lived there ever since. Beatriz del Cueto is a highly respected professional. She is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and the American Institute of Architects. In 2012, she also won the Henry Klumb Award for her important work.

Who is Beatriz del Cueto?

Beatriz del Cueto López-Hidalgo was born in 1952 in Havana, Cuba. In 1960, her family moved to Puerto Rico. She went to the University of Florida in Gainesville and finished her architecture degree in 1974.

She then studied at the Preservation Institute of Nantucket. There, she learned how to specialize in saving historical buildings. In 1976, she earned a Master's degree in Architecture, focusing on preservation. After that, she returned to Puerto Rico. In 1977, she started working for a famous architect named Henry Klumb.

Her Own Practice

In 1984, Beatriz del Cueto moved to Rome, Italy. She studied there with her husband, Agamemnon Pantel. They attended the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM). This center teaches about protecting cultural sites.

From 1984 to 1986, del Cueto worked at the College of Architects of Puerto Rico. In 1986, she started her own architecture business. In 1990, she and her husband created a company called Pantel del Cueto & Associates. Their company helps people understand old buildings in the Caribbean area better. Their projects to save old buildings have won awards in Puerto Rico and other places.

Besides running her business in San Juan, del Cueto also started a special lab. It's called the Architectural Conservation Laboratory at the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. Here, she teaches students about how to save old buildings. She also teaches them how to study the materials used to build them.

Awards and Recognition

In 2011, Beatriz del Cueto received the Rome Prize. This award allowed her to study how concrete was used in old buildings. In 2012, she won the Henry Klumb Award. This is Puerto Rico's most important architecture prize. She received it for her teaching and for her big help in restoring and saving the island's historic places.

What Projects Has She Done?

Beatriz del Cueto has worked on many important projects. She helps to restore and preserve old buildings.

Restoring Lighthouses: Cape San Juan Light

Cape San Juan Light

Beatriz del Cueto's team worked on restoring 15 lighthouses in Puerto Rico. These lighthouses were in different states of damage. Her main goal was to save these buildings. First, she studied the history of each lighthouse.

The lighthouses were built between 1880 and 1882 by the Spanish Government. They were made using a common building style in Puerto Rico. Their walls are made of limestone, sand, and lime, with layers of mud bricks. The roofs were flat with wooden beams. The top roof layer collected rainwater into a cistern for drinking.

After the Spanish-American War in 1898, the lighthouses became property of the United States. They were used until the 1970s. When the restoration project started in 1988, they had been empty for about ten years.

Del Cueto's most important lighthouse project was the Cape San Juan Light (Faro de Las Cabezas de San Juan) in Fajardo. This is the oldest lighthouse in Puerto Rico. It has a one-story stone house for the keeper. This house is connected to a round stone tower. The light could originally be seen from 19 miles away. After the restoration, it could be seen from 25 miles away.

The restoration also fixed the system that collected water for the cistern. Now, this water is used for the bathrooms. The lighthouse is in the Cabezas de San Juan Nature Reserve. After it was fixed, it opened for tours. Part of the keeper's house became a marine lab for the Universidad de Puerto Rico en Humacao. This meant the building had to meet modern fire and safety rules. The whole project finished in 1991.

Saving San José Church

Iglesia de San José

The San José Church (Iglesia de San José) is a very old building from the 1500s. It is located in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. The church closed in 2002 because it was becoming unstable. In 2003, Beatriz del Cueto's company started to check how badly it was damaged.

The first step was to stop the building from getting worse. To help with this, the church was put on the World Monuments Watch List in 2004. During the checking phase, del Cueto used a special tool called ground-penetrating radar. This was one of the first times this technology was used in the Caribbean. This tool helps to see what's underground without digging or causing more damage. It also shows hidden problems.

The team spent four years studying the church. They found many changes and repairs that had been made over its 478 years. Once they finished checking everything, they started the actual work to save and repair the church. This work was completed in 2012.

Some of Her Works

• Faro Las Cabezas de San Juan, Fajardo
• Headquarters of the College of Architects Puerto Rico, Santurce
• Mansion housing the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico, Old San Juan
• Old Girls Asylum, Miramar
• Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, Miramar
• Old Provincial Secondary School, known as the Department of Health, Santurce
• Hacienda La Esperanza, Manatí
• Church of San José, Old San Juan

See also

In Spanish: Beatriz del Cueto López para niños