Casa de Fierro

La Casa de Fierro (archaism, English: the Iron House, French: La Maison de Fer), located in the city of Iquitos in the jungle of Peru, in front of the major square between Próspero and Putumayo streets, is a large iron residence built during the rubber boom at the end of the nineteenth century. First, the house had been previously bought by the Bolivian explorer and entrepreneur Antonio Vaca Diez.

Commemorative plaque mounted on the exterior wall

The Iron House
La Casa de Fierro (in Spanish)
The "Casa de Fierro" in Iquitos, Peru
Alternative namesLa Maison de Fer (in French)
General information
TypeHouse
LocationIquitos,  Peru
Addressstreets Próspero/Putumayo.org
Current tenants"The Café of the Amazon" (restaurant; first and second floors)
Construction started1887 (creation in Belgium)
Completed1889 (prefabrication state)
Inaugurated1890 (built in Iquitos)
OwnerJudith Acosta Vda. De Fortes
Technical details
Structural systemPrecompression
Design and construction
ArchitectJoseph Danly
Architecture firmForges d'Aiseau
Awards and prizesCultural Heritage of Peru

La Casa de Fierro is one of the finest as well as best-preserved samples of civil architecture in Peru. The walls, ceiling, and balcony are plastered in rectangular sheets of iron. It is said to be the first prefabricated house in the Americas.[1] Although popularly said to have been designed by the French architect Gustave Eiffel, there is no evidence at all that this is true; the building does not reflect his architectural style.[2] Since 2011 well substantiated claims prove it was built in the Belgian workshops of Les Forges d'Aiseau (Joseph Danly process)[3]. Rubber baron Anselmo del Aguila bought it at the International Exposition of Paris in 1889. Once dismantled, it was brought in pieces to Iquitos (the metal sheets were carried by hundreds of men through the jungle), and assembled there in 1890.

Since 1985, it is being administered by the Club Social de Iquitos; which has contributed in its restoration. Its second floor now has a restaurant.

A fully different story of the origin of the house is told in Mario Vargas Llosa's Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (Pantaleón y las visitadoras), a comic novel.

See also

References
  1. Practiguia Peru, First ed., pag. 261. Peru Guia S.R.L., Lima, 1994 (in Spanish)
  2. , The New York Times, October 29, 2014.
  3. "Eiffel en Amérique du Sud Mythes et Histoires" (PDF). www.fondationsocietetoureiffel.org (in French). 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2020.,

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