IGV
The Ministry of Public Works of Juan Vicente Gómez assigned engineer Guillermo Salas to the Palace of Agriculture project, whose construction was decreed in 1934 and would occupy the of the colonial mansión of the Count of San Javier.The changes in the country since 1936 account for the four-story reinforced concrete air-conditioned palacebeing used as the new Ministry of National Education. The square building with two composition axes has a triple-height central access space, covered with a skylight with stained glass similar to those behind the main stairway and elevators. Sculptor Lorenzo González’s (1877-1948) marquetry, marble works, low reliefs and high reliefs, are inside and outside. They are rich in ArtDeco references both in the combination of materials, colors and schematic simplification, and in the geometrization, angular shapes and gradations of the facades. Between 1981 and 1983, the building was renovated and assigned to the Simón Rodríguez Metropolitan Library, adapting its ample and well-lit internal spaces as reading rooms, storerooms and offices. This relevant example of Art Deco, shows distinctive features of the style originating in the Paris International Exhibition of 1925, as well as an integration of architecture and the fine arts.
