Page:Architectural Record 1920-08 Vol 48 Iss 2.djvu/61



In Mr. Finlayson’s work there is only one exception to the universal employment of reinforced concrete, and that is the important Rafael M. de Labra graded school in Santurce, the great suburban and residential district of San Juan; a beautiful example of Georgian architecture applied to a tropical environment: one of the show-buildings of the city. It is wholly of red brick, with trimmings of white terra cotta. Although looking as if it might have stood in old Boston or Philadelphia, so far as aspect and ma- terial are concerned, and unique in style for San Juan, it is in such good keeping with its environment, with its gracious facade, its airy arcaded corridors and court, and the light elegance of its bel- fry, that it seems by no means an archi- tectural exotic. The excellent hard brick of the walls came from the south side of the island near Ponce. The walls are so well tied together with steel rods at cru- cial points that the building stood the ordeal of the recent severe earthquake without a trace of damage.

The comparatively thin single walls made possible by the use of reinforced concrete, together with the other simpli- heations in building and equipment aforementioned, and also the lesser labor effect such economies in construc- tion that altogether the higher cost of material, due to transportation, is more than counterbalanced. For instance, the plastering of rooms can be done di- rectly upon the inside surface of the ex- terior wall, instead of providing a space between the plastering and the wall; in- deed, in certain instances no plastering at all is necessary, for I have seen most at- tractive rooms with the bare concreté walls left untouched just as they came from the forms.

In the modern as well as the old-time civic architecture of Porto Rico glass windows are seldom, if ever, in evidence. I cannot recall a single instance except a glazed space commonly provided in the upper part of the shutters, as may be seen in various illustrations here given. In such a climate they would be super-

costs,

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