Palacete Los Moreau facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Hacienda Iruena Manor House
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The house in 2008
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 Location in Puerto Rico
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| Location | Highway 2, km 115.7 Barrio Aceituna Moca, Puerto Rico |
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| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1893 |
| Architect | Serva, Paul |
| Architectural style | Renaissance, French Chateau |
| NRHP reference No. | 87000735 |
| Added to NRHP | August 14, 1987 |
Palacete Los Moreau is a beautiful house museum located in Moca, Puerto Rico. It was once known as the Labadie Mansion. This house inspired the famous novel La Llamarada by Enrique Laguerre. Today, it has been restored and renamed "Palacete Los Moreau" to honor the book. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Hacienda Iruena Manor House.
The History of Palacete Los Moreau
This impressive house was built in 1893. It is the only building left from a large farm that grew both coffee and sugar. The property first belonged to the French Pengeot family.
In 1860, Juan Labadié bought the farm. It was very large, about 1,300 acres. Most of the land was used for growing coffee. The rest of the land was for sugar cane, timber, and raising cattle.
Juan Labadié lived on the farm until he passed away in 1893. His wife, Cornelia Pengeot, decided to build a new house. She replaced the old wooden house with a strong new one made of concrete.
After the United States took control of the island in 1898, the farm changed. It became a sugar-only plantation. It then belonged to a large sugar company called Central Coloso.
Discovering the Architecture of the House
Plans for building the new house began in 1893. Paul Serva designed the house. He was the manager of the "Central Coloso" sugar mill in Aguada.
Serva designed the house to look like a French castle, but adapted for the Caribbean. The most important part of the house is its front porch. This porch has two towers on either side. One of these towers used to hold the house's library.
La Llamarada and the House's Legacy
The house became famous in Puerto Rican literature. It was featured in the novel "La Llamarada" (which means "The Blaze"). This book was written by Puerto Rican author Enrique Laguerre. It tells a story about the sugar cane industry during the Great Depression.
In the book, the house is called "Hacienda Palmares de la Familia Moreau." Laguerre described the house as it looked in the early 1900s. The Moreau family in the book is based on the real Labadié family. Laguerre knew that his novel made the house legendary. He said it was "like when a great man dies and literature replaces history, and the legend begins."
In 1993, the town of Moca bought the property. They restored the house and named it "El Palacete Los Moreau." This was done to honor Laguerre's famous novel. The estate is now open to the public for free. Enrique Laguerre's wishes were to be cremated. His ashes are buried in a small tomb on the grounds of the estate.
