SUN
San Bernardino is a model of garden suburbs notable for its urban layout of curved lines fanning out to the north and straight streets that start from the central axis of the urban development, as well as the profusion of trees and plants. Avenida Vollmer is the first one laid out with a central tree-lined pedestrian promenade, whose south edge is linked to Avenida Andrés Bello and the north one with the Navy Headquarters (former Shell Company seat), along with the magnificent buildings of Electricidad de Caracas. This central promenade scheme is repeated north-south on Avenida Marqués del Toro and northeast-southwest on Avenida Fermín Toro. The double tree-lined promenade of Marqués del Toro crosses another avenue with a center island, which finishes at Ávila Hotel and the Humboldt Association on either end. The promenade is named after Bolívar’s cousin in law, the Marqués del Toro, owner of Quinta Anauco. Besides the tree-lined promenades, another significant space was La Estrella round point, where seven streets met, in the center of which were placed deer figures, which were from Plaza Venezuela; at another time, the roundabout had a landscape arrangement with a planted central star. Today the roundabout has been defragmented into pieces of street islands; however the urban development’s singular atmosphere maintains its unpredictable street layout, accompanying prominent public and private buildings for decades.
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