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).
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.
[2] The Neo-Classical influence is manifested in most of his buildings and particularly in the Villaronga residence for its richness and highly decorative details (pilasters, rusticated podium, cornices, "candelabra", relief and motifs, Ionic capitols, etc.
[1] The structure is considered "treasure trove of culture",[5] a jewel amongst the many antique Ponce mansions that have been preserved and converted into museums.
The building possesses elaborate neoclassical details, a majestic roof-top gazebo, and a full set of original and custom-made Catalan modernist furniture.
[6] The Wiechers-Villaronga Residence is a U-shaped, one-storied structure, measuring 68'-10" in width by 95'-2" in length, located at the northeast corner of Reina and Mendez Vigo Streets.
Another interesting feature of the house are the balconies which are divided into three sections with Ionic columns and framed with Baroque moldings and sculptured faces on the central top part of the openings.
On top of this cornice, a battlement-type parapet with sculptured lion faces and "candelabra" decorates the roof line of the structure.
Other interesting details on the house are: the bathroom fixtures, such as the shower stall and the ceramic wall tiles which were imported from Barcelona, Spain, the light fixtures—such as the ones at the dining-room, the master bedroom and living room—which were also imported from Spain, and a "medio punto" at the dining area, typical of the architecture of this Southern area of Puerto Rico.
[13] It has an extensive collection of displays and photos of master works from Blas Silva Boucher, Francisco Porrata Doria, Alfredo Wiechers Pieretti and other prominent local architects from the early 20th century.
[14] The city of Ponce, considered by some as the "irrefutable guardian of Puerto Rican criollismo",[15] was selected as a member of the prestigious Art Nouveau Route of the European Union for its "world preservation of modernist heritage".