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Holding Information

Collection: Thomas Ustick Walter Collection

Institution: Athenaeum of Philadelphia

MARC Description:
Derived title, Plano para mejorar el Puerto de LaGuayra, i.e. Plan for the improvement of the Port of LaGuayra. Most drawings are in Spanish, and are more formal in the drawing & rendering style. Drawings WTU*038*005 and *011 can be said to be in English, and show engineering details, with less developed drawing. Drawings WTU*037*003 dated Aug. 31, 1843, WTU*037*006 dated Sept. 18, 1843, and WTU*037*005 dated Sept. 19, 1843 appears to be contract drawings and have signatures: [1] T.(?) A. Garcia [2] Miguel Rivas(?) [3] Th. Martin Lamda(?) [4] Empresario, Thomas U. Walter. The drawings illustrate structures the new pier (muelle nuevo) and the old pier (muella viego), the house for the Captain of the Port (la casa par la Capitania de puerto), sections of the breakwater (seccion transversal del Quiebra-agua), and also show a fort or strong wall (fuerte), fountain (fuente), and custom house (aduana). Also included in the Athenaeum Walter Archives are extensive diary entries, letters and other documents relating to Walter's work in Venezuela. Notes by Robert Ennis in the Athenaeum's Walter project files states that "the commission from the government of Venezuela for the Breakwater at La Guaira, [was] largely arranged and promoted by the Dallett family of Philadelphia [Dallett Brothers] whose shipping interests rather required it for the safety of their vessels." The firm in Venezuela called Boulton, Phelps & Co. (1843-1846), later Bolton, Dallett & Co. (1847-1852) represented Walter's interests with the authorities through long negotiations concerning the completion & payment for the project, with assistance of Secretary of State Daniel Webster. A chapter entitled "A Philadelphia Breakwater for LaGuaira" in a book by Francis James Dallett titled Carribean crossing, which was in preparation in 1979, provides a history of the porject. According to Dallett, the original creative impetus for the breakwater came from Philadelphia shipmaster Jonathan Jones Wheeler, who know the Venezuelan port well, and remembered Walter from his work with William Strickland on the consturction of the Delaware River breakwater. Wheeler contracted with Walter to form the Breakwater Company. Dallett chronicles many hardships, and several lost their lives, including Walter's son Joseph. Wheeler, who had been 50 in 1842 at the start of the project, died on the job in Mar. 2, 1846. The project was one of many firsts, "the first major engineering work designed by an American architect for the South American continent, the most important technological development in Venezuela's history", and the three hundred feet of track laid for move the building materials was the first railroad in Venezuela, if not all of South America. There were evidentally misjudgements and changes made in the engineering & construction of the project on both the government and the Walter/Wheeler sides, leaving the project less than a total success. Sand continued to build up against the warf, dislocated stones from the breakwater threatened to create dangerous reefs, and ships still were not adequately protected from high gale driven winds. In 1885-1891, the London firm Punchard, MacJaggart, Lowther & Company constructed a new sea wall to solve these problems.

Quantity: 12 drawings : ink & wash on paper ; 70.5 x 118.5 cm. or smaller

Local Call: WTU*037

RLIN: PAPV93-F514

Item dates: 1843-1845

Holding types: Drawings

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Documented Projects

• Port of LaGuayra
   

Documented Architects, Engineers, and Others

• Walter, Thomas Ustick (1804-1887) (Architect)

Location

VENEZUELA ("La Guayra")

Image Gallery

[Plano para mejorar el Puerto de LaGuayra, [Venezuela]] Plano Para Mejorar el Puerto de La Guayra (Thomas Ustick Walter, architect, 9/19/1843) Thomas Ustick Walter Collection, Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Local ID #: WTU*037*004	[Plano para mejorar el Puerto de LaGuayra, [Venezuela]] Details (Thomas Ustick Walter, architect, 10/13/1845) Thomas Ustick Walter Collection, Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Local ID #: WTU*037*010	[Plano para mejorar el Puerto de LaGuayra, [Venezuela]] Plan (Thomas Ustick Walter, architect, 7/25/1845) Thomas Ustick Walter Collection, Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Local ID #: WTU*037*009
[Plano para mejorar el Puerto de LaGuayra, [Venezuela]] Plot Plan and Section (Thomas Ustick Walter, architect, 1845) Thomas Ustick Walter Collection, Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Local ID #: WTU*037*011	[Plano para mejorar el Puerto de LaGuayra, [Venezuela]] Plano de la Casa Para la Capitania de Puerto (Thomas Ustick Walter, architect, 11/19/1844) Thomas Ustick Walter Collection, Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Local ID #: WTU*037*008	[Plano para mejorar el Puerto de LaGuayra, [Venezuela]] Elevation of Bridge (Thomas Ustick Walter, architect, 8/2/1844) Thomas Ustick Walter Collection, Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Local ID #: WTU*037*007
[Plano para mejorar el Puerto de LaGuayra, [Venezuela]] Plan & Section of New Pier (Thomas Ustick Walter, architect, 9/18/1843) Thomas Ustick Walter Collection, Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Local ID #: WTU*037*006	[Plano para mejorar el Puerto de LaGuayra, [Venezuela]] Plot Plan (Thomas Ustick Walter, architect, 8/31/1843) Thomas Ustick Walter Collection, Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Local ID #: WTU*037*002	[Plano para mejorar el Puerto de LaGuayra, [Venezuela]] Plot Plan, Transverse Section (Thomas Ustick Walter, architect, 8/23/1843) Thomas Ustick Walter Collection, Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Local ID #: WTU*037*001
[Plano para mejorar el Puerto de LaGuayra, [Venezuela]] Plan and Elevation of beakwater with soundings taken 9/1/1843 (Thomas Ustick Walter, architect, 1843) Thomas Ustick Walter Collection, Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Local ID #: WTU*037*005	[Plano para mejorar el Puerto de LaGuayra, [Venezuela]] Detalles del Atajamar (Thomas Ustick Walter, architect, 8/31/1842) Thomas Ustick Walter Collection, Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Local ID #: WTU*037*003	[Plano para mejorar el Puerto de LaGuayra, [Venezuela]] Plan (Thomas Ustick Walter, architect) Thomas Ustick Walter Collection, Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Local ID #: WTU*037*012

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