Oblivion and destruction

The history of the house of Marcos Ibáñez in the Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción

Abstract

Marcos Ibañez, arrived from Spain with the Royal instructions to design a city and design and build the main buildings. He had to remain 12 years doing his job, at his return to Spain he would have had a lifetime pension. However, upon his ar­rival, the city was already designed and some buildings were being construct­ed. Authorities and residents were on the provisional settlement of La Ermita, so Ibañez, lived for a while in this place and also in a novitiate; finally, he was giv­en a place in the city, where, he, think­ing about his 12-year stay, built his house. For its construction he should take into account the guidelines of the Govern­ment and use local labor and material. When he got sick, he decided to leave Guatemala, selling his house in 1784 to a major Spanish merchant. Over time this fact was lost from the memory of the city, which, together with the destruction caused by the earthquakes, helped to forget the existence of one of one of the first houses built and designed by an ar­chitect in the new Guatemala. The initial hints of the existence of the house were found by means of an initial investigation. With this process, it was possible to the­oretically reconstruct the morphology of the home of the designer of the historic center of the city.