Zonas de Caracas

GCM

For the 1946 Housing Plan, Carlos Raúl Villanueva (London, 1900, architect, Beaux Arts, Paris) and Leopoldo Martínez Ola­varría (Caracas, 1919, engineer, Universidad Central de Venezuela) designed in the Banco Obrero this neighborhood unit located in Catia, where from 1947 to 1948, winding internal and external streets and a central street were built, defining 6 oversized city blocks with walkways connecting continuous rows of 327 one-story workers’ houses of 3 different models (O-2, O-4, B-2) proposed by Villanueva and Martinez. The two internal city blocks were intended for parks and green areas, but since 1951, workers’ slab buildings (CT-1) designed by Villanueva were built there –4 floors, 2 three-bedroom apartments per floor, external staircases– and as communal services, there are 6 one-story shops, supermarket, soda fountain and parking, designed in 1952 by Eduardo Sosa. New 4 and 5-story workers’ housing blocks –2 three-bedroom apartments per floor, longitudinal external staircase– were built in 1956 without providing additional services. The 327 single-family houses of this neighborhood unit, added to 600 apartments of the CT-1 buildings from the 50s, plus 114 in workers’ buildings, make a total of 1141 homes, whose design diversity reveals the overlap existing in a Banco Obrero complex with density resulting from its pragmatism, with its idea of using installed basic services for new construction programs.