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We will guide you through the fascinating world of mamposteria.
You may have all ready asked yourself What is mamposteria, and why is it important?
As you will see, mamposteria served as the building blocks of the Spanish Empire
an empire that lasted almost 300 years on the island of Guam.
The race to colonize the world began in earnest during the 15th and 16th centuries between two seafaring powers : Portugal and Spain.
Eventually Spain dominated the imperialist scene through the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1493.
From then on, Spain colonized lands west of the treaty line and turned these colonies into mirrored images of Spain.
Spain made Acapulco in Mexico her territorial capital in the New World.
In South America, the former Andes capital, Cuzco, served as a major trading center for the Spanish.
In the Pacific, Spain colonized the Philippines so it could easily trade with its major customer, the Chinese.
While in the new territory, the Spanish language, food, clothing styles, types of trade and economics were all used by the local and Spanish populace.
Likewise, mamposteria was used as a means of building churches, government offices, and homes.
Between 9th century AD and the 1600s, the most notable material used in early structural design was the latte.
The typical dwelling maintained an elevated floor associated with prehistorically architecture.
With the advent of Spanish dominance in Guam in the 16th century, the use of the latte stone supports for structures came to an end.
The predominant roof design is believed to have oriented from the upper portion of latte dwelling in the pre Spanish period.
The use of latte ceased after the arrival of the Spanish.
Chamorro people were forced to live in parish village patterns called pueblos.
The first place that mamposteria was built in was Hagatna.
Later they built more mamposteria structures in schools and churches all over the island.
This encouraged them to build stronger houses by replacing them with mamposteria structure and removing old houses.
The church of San Dionsio, constructed of wood with a palm thatch roof, was dedicated in Umatac on February 11, 1681
;this church was the first mamposteria church in Guam.
It was burned by rebel Chamorros who did not want to be converted to Catholicism in 1684.
It was destroyed by a typhoon later in 1693. It was rebuilt in 1694 of coral masonary and lasted until the great earthquake of 1849.
Although in the ruin, the church is listed in Guam National Regester on 1974.
The rich Spanish people lived in the center of Hagatna, and their houses were normally of coral masonary.
The Spanish government’s reliance on heavy masonry was ultimately applied to more affluent residential buildings, called “bodega” structures.
Heavy 16-inch thick limestone masonry construction was used for lower perimeter walls.
But how do you preserve beef without modern technology like refrigerator.
When Chamorro dried the beef, they salted and sun-dried.
Beef can be contained for so much weeks or months without refrigeration.
It(Food) saved on budega so it was primary function for food of preservation.
Also it acted as a shelter. People deal with nature in this Mariana Island. It was very affective.
The Spanish came to Guam 1565 and colonized until 1898.
The Spanish introduced lime mortar and stone construction to Guam.
In 1736 Don Francisco Cardenas Pacheco became the governor.
He is the first person on the island to innovate the building structures of houses using coral stone and mortar.
In that year he started building the first governor’s palace in Hagatna.
The principal buildings made with mamposteria were the governor’s palacio, his office and residence, which is quite spacious and comfortable.
They built them in Hagatna around an open square.
Now we call this square the Plaza de Espana which is listed in Guam National Regester on 1977.
Mamposteria buildings had either thatch or teha roofs. It is barrel tiled curved terra cotta earthenware roof tile.
The workers built the entire house frame and the roof before filling the space
between the supporting posts with thick walls of unshaped rocks bonded together with mortar.
The Chamorro covered the small windows of the thick masonry walls of the budega with wooden shutters.
The size of the windows in the mamposteria walls was limited because the larger the opening, the more it weakened the wall.
The living quarters built above the budega were usually of wood interior and exterior walls, because they were safer than masonry during earthquakes.
In its simplest form, mamposteria, masons mortared together stone rubble walls, stone by stone, upon bedrock or a compacted sand, earth, or stone foundation.
The mortar was forty percent slaked lime, and sixty percent sand mixed with water.
The plaster was primarily a slaked lime , sand and water mixture.
Today there are many buildings with mamposterias being reconstructive.
One of the most well known houses is the Lujan House.
On February first, 1899, the American government took possession of Guam.
With the arrival of the U.S. military, more architectural materials, specifically metal (tin), became available.
Wood and tin became the most prevalent building materials used on Guam until the 1960s.
In immediate post-world War II Guam, another structure of choice for military,
because of low cost and ease of construction, was prefabricated corrugated steel buildings called quonset hut.
The military used these lightweight structures to deal with the influx of military personnel and equipment.
Residential design took on new dimensions with the presence of the American government following the Spanish-American War.
Following the reoccupation of Guam by U.S. military forces after World War II, many new construction materials were imported to facilitate a rebuilding program.
Use of concrete became prevalent and the galvanized metal applied as siding and roofing appeared.
Mamaposteria, innovation of Guam’s architecture, provided many shelters to Chamorro people with stronger buildings, which prevented natural disasters.
People in Guam built Mamaposteria homes, fortifications, churches, schools, and other government buildings.
These structures were designed to withstand Guam’s typhoons and earthquakes and indeed some have survived into the 21st century.
Throughout Spanish colonization, stone remained an architectural mainstay in Chamorro design
with the Spanish-introduced methods of lime mortar and stone construction.
Today, homes that were built several decades ago using these architectural methods still stand
in the historic districts of the capital village of Hagatna and the southern village of Inarajan.