Edificio General Páez.
neighborhood of 1936, also designed by González Méndez, who delivers constructive and typological rationality in a modern language (Posani, 1969 p.344). This first example of modernism manifested itself as complex and heterogeneous: although the programs led to accelerated processes of modernization, technological tools and modern concepts were intermingled with the strong institutional presence of academic eclecticism, as well as the new geometrization of classicism derived from the Exhibition of Decorative Arts of Paris in 1925. In addition, and quite present in residential architecture, a neo-Hispanic style appeared as a national manifesto against the “internationalist, atheist and materialist” trends expressed in the European avant-gardes. Thus, Venezuela was also affected by this nationalist current, but emptied of the ethical-political manifesto character that had been articulated in many countries of the continent. Many architects who participated in this first stage showed this process of transition from the eclectic to the modern. Most of the pioneers went through this ‘impure’ stage of modernism: like Manuel Mujica Millán (1897-1963), a Spanish architect with a degree from the Barcelona School of Technology in 1925, who moved to Venezuela initiating a set of projects such as renovation of the Majestic Hotel (1927), the National Pantheon (1930) and the Cathedral of Mérida (1945), which accentuated the pre-existing Hispanic colonial style. However, residential architecture was treated in a different way: the Campo Alegre development as well as the new La Florida development built a significant volume of family homes. The works of Manuel Mujica covered the broad stylistic spectrum of Basque regionalist architecture and colonial Hispanic, to the most radical modern style. He declared in 1930: “Venezuela does not possess its peculiar style, but it has excellent raw materials for construction and architectural decoration”. This statement freed from norms and impositions and opened the possibility of applying any style according to the significance and relevance of the commission, in which colonial Hispanic predominated for the institutional architecture of churches, haciendas and government houses, along with the more radical and modern “yacht style” for residential architecture.
A different case is represented by architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva (1900-1975), who graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1928 and moved to Caracas the following year. Immediately incorporated into the Ministry of Public Works, he developed a set of institutional projects such as the Hotel Jardín (1929), the Plaza de Toros de Maracay (1933), the Museum of Fine Arts, the Science Museum of Caracas (1934-35) and, together with Luis Malaussena, the Venezuelan Pavilion for the Universal Exhibition of Paris, in 1937. These buildings presented either Hispanic colonial style, Mudejar style or a rigorous academic classicism, depending on the character of the work, as instructed by the Academy. However, other types of works, also institutional -such as the Psychiatric Hospital of Lídice (1931-32) and the Gran Colombia School (1939)were radically modern, showing not only their ability to approach any style, but also the ability to interpret the new programs of modernism: health, education and housing. For Carlos Raúl Villanueva this will be the true scope of creativity and the place of modern architecture. This is where the fortunate synthesis between modern program and modern architecture took place. These buildings, together with those that came after, will be the most paradigmatic works of modern architecture in Venezuela. The stated transition in the architecture of Venezuela was registered in a special manner in institutional buildings, which seemed to give the new city a monumental character that it would quickly lose. Indeed, works such as the Ministry of Public Works (1934); the Tuberculosis Sanatorium (1939); the Military Hospital of Maracay (began in 1930); the Boyacá Theater (1940), to the Cagigal Observatory (1954) -carried out by Carlos Guinand Sandoz (1889-1963) with advanced studies at the Technische Hochschule in Munich-, will reveal the academic sobriety of classicism and Art Deco. With these same languages the Teatro Principal in Caracas (1928), the Palace of the Government of Caracas (1933) and the Central Bank of Venezuela (1942), by Gustavo Wallis Legórburu (1897-1979) stand out. However, the same architect developed remarkably modern office buildings, such as the Veroes (1940) and the General Páez (1949), both in a district of Caracas that began to embody the spirit of a tertiary city with high rise buildings, regulated façades and rounded corners. 33