La Fortaleza
Residence and office of the governor of Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Built 1533. Added to the National Register in 1966, and a National Historic Landmark.
What it is
La Fortaleza, also known as the Palacio de Santa Catalina, is the official residence and workplace of the Governor of Puerto Rico. Located in the historic quarter of Old San Juan in the capital city and municipality of San Juan, it has housed the governor since the 16th century, making it the oldest executive seat in continuous use in the New World. Built as a medieval fortress from 1533 to 1540 by orders of King Charles I of Spain and remodeled to its present Neoclassical style in 1846 by orders of Governor Rafael Arístegui, it was the first fortification erected by the Spanish on San Juan Islet to defend San Juan Bay, the harbor of Old San Juan. Alongside El Morro, San Cristóbal, and other forts part of the Walls of Old San Juan, it protected strategically and militarily important Puerto Rico, or La Llave de las Indias, from invasions by competing world powers and raids from privateers and pirates during the Age of Discovery and Sail. It was designated a World Heritage Site in 1983.
Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The record
| Property type | Building |
| Address | Calle Fortaleza, San Juan Island between San Juan Bay and Calle Recinto Oeste, San Juan, PR |
| County | San Juan County |
| Listed | Oct 15, 1966 |
| Reference number | 66000951 |
| Built | 1533 |
| Type of place | palace, official residence, fortification |
| Designations | National Historic Landmark, National Register of Historic Places contributing property |
| Contributing resources | 1 buildings |
The nomination form, the document that argues why this place matters, is in the National Archives: Read the nomination ↗
Visiting
| Address | Calle Fortaleza, San Juan Island between San Juan Bay and Calle Recinto Oeste, San Juan, PR |
| Coordinates | 18.46653, -66.11883 · Directions ↗ |
| Nearest national park unit | San Juan National Historic Site · 0 mi · on Park Atlas |
Explore
Map
Nearby in San Juan County
Reference
Sources
Location, dates, type and contributing counts come from the National Park Service's National Register spatial data. Construction date, architect, style, photograph and encyclopedia link come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, matched on reference number 66000951. Nothing here is transcribed by hand. The description under "What it is" is the opening of the Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA.