Casa Presidencial (El Salvador)

Casa Presidencial, or "Presidential House" in the Spanish language, is the President of El Salvador's official residence and his offices.

Because of the 2001 earthquakes, the president's offices were moved from San Jacinto to the former Club Campestre in San Benito. As a result, "Casa Presidencial" in El Salvador refers to several separate locations. One is the president's current official residence which is located on Avenida Masferrer (approx three blocks north of the Masferrer "redondel" or traffic circle) in the upper portion of Colonia Escalon (AKA Lomas Verdes). The second "Casa Presidencial" is the old president's offices in San Jacinto. The San Jacinto location has been abandoned since the January/February 2001 twin earthquakes. The third "Casa Presidencial" is the current location of the president's offices, No. 5500 Manuel Enrique Araujo Highway (known as Calle a Santa Tecla), Colonia San Benito, San Salvador, which had been a country club with small golf course and then the Ministry of Foreign Relations.

Construction work on the original official residence began place in 1911, the year in which the President of the republic, Dr. Manuel Enrique Araujo, made a decree which would authorize the acquisition of a property called “Quinta Natalia”. That property was situated in the San Jacinto neighborhood, to the south of the capital city. On May 9, 1912, the Legislative Assembly allowed the hiring of a national, North American, or European firm for the construction of several buildings, including one destined to be "The Normal School for Teachers" which would later become the presidential house.

This area had evidence of human occupation since Pre-Columbian times, because of the numerous archeological items found there. Next to the property the famous “Modelo” hacienda lay, where the National Zoo is now located. After the death of President Araujo, Don Carlos Meléndez succeeded him. President Meléndez modified the original plan for the "Normal School for Teachers" and decided to make it "The Normal School for Boys". On the 21st of September 1913 he set the first stone on the “Quinta Natalia” property for construction.

This building is largely the work of woman Luis Fleury, whose design combines the elegant Classic and Art Nouveau styles. Its completion was delayed several years because of a series of circumstances, among them the damage suffered from the 1917 and 1919 earthquakes, and the delays caused by the First World War. It was finished in 1921, but not until 1924 did it start to function officially as the Formal School for Boys. In 1931, after the overthrowing of President Arturo Araujo, General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez took over the presidency. He briefly took up official residence in the “El Zapote” barracks. Because of the political, economic, and social difficulties the country was going through at the time and because of security issues of the executive and his family, President Martinez decided to move the offices of the presidential house to the building that occupied the Normal School for Boys in the San Jacinto neighbourhood, close to the “El Zapote” barracks.

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Wikipedia