Alejandro Chataing

Alejandro Chataing (February 24, 1873 in Caracas, Venezuela – April 16, 1928) was an important Venezuelan architect. Chataing was known as the "great constructor of the regime of Cipriano Castro." He was a prolific architect who helped give Caracas a new face.

In general, his projects demonstrated a remarkable eclecticism, with tendencies that included neo-renaissance, neo-romanesque, morisco and neo-baroque. At the same time, next to the traditional Venezuelan rubblework, he used concrete foundations, as well as iron joists in the intrafloor space, a method characteristic of the transitional period between the 19th and 20th centuries.

His career began when he received first prize in a contest for the facades of the San Jacinto Caracas town market in 1894. In 1895 he collaborated with his teacher Juan Hurtado Manrique in the design of the Arch of the Federation on the slopes of El Calvario.

In 1904, he rebuilt the National Pantheon and constructed the presidential residence of Cipriano Castro in el Paraíso, called Villa Zoila. A year later he modified the structure and the facade of the Military School of la Planicie, with a project imitating the strength of "florentino military style." Between 1904 and 1905, he constructed the National theater, which president Cipriano Castro wished to have emulate the works of Antonio Guzmán Blanco. In 1905 he designed the House of Baths in El Valle and modified the School of Arts and offices.

In 1906, he took on the project of the construction of a hospital for leprosy patients for the island of La Providencia () (at the entrance of Lake Maracaibo) and of an Arch of the Restoration that would not be completed.

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