BANAMER high-rise
The BANAMER high-rise (also: Banamer high-rise ) is a 17-storey building with a square floor plan on the northeast corner of the intersection of Avenida Roosevelt and 4ª Calle Suroeste in Managua . It was the only high-rise building that survived the earthquake of December 23, 1972 on load-bearing parts without any consequences. It was renamed the Benjamín Zeledón building in 2008 after a general renovation after the national hero Benjamin Zeledón .
Creation
In 1952, Carlos Pellas Chamorro's uncle , Carlos Pellas Benard, helped found the Banco de América (BANAMER), which was owned by members of the Partido Conservador de Nicaragua from Granada and Carazo . On February 13, 1968, BANAMER awarded the construction contract with a volume of 20 million Cordobas to the consortium of Solórzano, Villa, Pereira (SOVIPE) and Cardenal Lacayo Fiallos SA (Carlafisa). The architects were Edward Stone from the USA and Eduardo Chamorro Coronel from Nicaragua. Edward Durell Stone had previously designed the Museum of Arts & Design in New York , the US Embassy building in New Delhi in 1954 and the United States Pavilion for the 1958 International Exposition in Brussels. At about the same time he designed the Aon Center in Chicago.
Filadelfo Chamorro Bolaños was responsible for the statics. The static verifications had to be carried out in accordance with the California building regulations. The recorded values of the earthquake on March 31, 1931 in Managua were proven to be tectonic stress . The building was financed by Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco, California, USA.
Construction began in the spring of 1968. The office building was made of reinforced concrete , it has a lobby and two basement floors. First, a pile foundation was placed in the sediments of the shores of Lake Managua , then the two basement floors were excavated. A sufficient amount of concrete was poured as a foundation, which shifts the center of gravity of the building downwards and allows the building to float upright in the ground. A principle that was originally used in Mexico and has proven itself in many buildings in earthquake zones. The building was completed in late 1970 and painted white. The first basement and lobby have marble wall cladding . The first basement level could also be reached via escalators. On December 4, 1970, the building was opened by Anastasio Somoza Debayle and Hope Portocarrero .
1972 earthquake
On December 23, 1972 at 12:35 p.m. there was a quake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale in Managua and two aftershocks at 1:18 p.m. and 1:20 p.m. This destroyed the center of Managua, the building of the Banco de América remained statically undamaged, some windows and marble cladding in the lobby were broken. A fire broke out between the 14th and 17th floors, which could be extinguished. The adjacent Casa Mántica to the north was badly damaged by the earthquake and demolished in 1973. Between Carretera a Masaya and Avenida Roosevelt, a series of less permanent high-rise buildings had been erected. It was later discovered that near the building of the Banco de América there was a tectonic fissure , which was named Sistema de Fallas Los Bancos (SFLB).
Opposite the BANAMER high-rise is the Banco Nacional de Nicaragua (BNN) building. The Banco Nacional de Nicaragua dismantled 12 of the 16 floors in 1975. In 1985 the Parliament of Nicaragua moved into the building of the Banco Nacional de Nicaragua . The Banco de América high-rise has been repainted.
Junta de Gobierno de Reconstrucción Nacional
The building continued to be used as the bank's office building until 1979. The BANAMER as other private banks from the Junta de Gobierno de Reconstrucción Nacional nationalized (JGRN). The bank building became the seat of the junta.
Parliament building
In the November 4, 1984 elections, Daniel Ortega was elected President of Nicaragua and took office on January 10, 1985. The MPs elected in the general election were given offices in the Banco de America tower block. To this day, the offices of the representatives, the library of the parliament and conference rooms for various committees of the parliament are in the high-rise. At that time the lower floors were used up to the 11th floor. The floors 12 to 17 were unglazed and populated by pigeons. The division of the offices of the Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (PLC) is in the first basement. The party alliance Alianza Liberal Nicaragüense (ALN) is on the third floor. The offices of the FSLN MPs are on the fifth floor. The offices of the MPs of Movimiento Renovador Sandinista (MRS) are on the tenth floor.
renovation
At the end of 2007, the fencing was removed, which had fenced in the four sides of the building up to the level of the lobby since the 1980s. In May 2008 the Presidium of Parliament decided to paint and renovate the building. Following a tender, Sherwin-Williams was commissioned to paint the building inside and out with gold paint. A renewal of the windows, the marble coverings, the lighting, the electrical and water installation was also put out to tender.
Individual evidence
- ^ University of Arkansas , Edward Durell Stone Papers - Series 11 - "B"
- ↑ Alcides Flores, Análisis Crítico de una Obra Arquitectónica ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ manfut, managua memoria
- ↑ El Nuevo Diario January 31, 2006, 91 escaños sobre una gran falla ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ La Prensa , 18 DE OCTUBRE DEL 2003, Conato de incendio en antiguo edificio del Banco de América ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 12 ° 7 ′ 18 ″ N , 86 ° 15 ′ 41 ″ W.