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Félix Saurí Vivas

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Félix Saurí Vivas
96th Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico
In office
13 May 1895[1] – 11 July 1895[1]
Preceded byEduardo Armstrong
Succeeded byJuan José Potous
Personal details
BornDecember 1850
Mataró, Barcelona, Spain[2][3]
Died25 December 1915 (aged 65)[4]
Ponce, Puerto Rico
NationalityPuerto Rican
ChildrenRafael[5]
Residence(s)Casa Saurí, Ponce Puerto Rico
Occupationbusinessman, hacienda holder
Professionpolitician

Félix Saurí Vivas (December 1850 – 25 December 1915), also known as Félix Saurí y Vivas, was a Spanish-Puerto Rican businessman and interim Mayor of Ponce, from 13 May 1895 to 11 July 1895.[1]

Career

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Saurí Vivas was born in Mataró in the Province of Barcelona to Pedro Saurí and Teresa Vivas.[4] He immigrated to Puerto Rico, where he was a businessman and hacienda holder.[6] He became mayor of Ponce in 1895.[7] In the same year, he also founded, with Juan Serralles Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño, one of the leading banking institutions in Puerto Rico for almost a century.[8]

Casa Saurí

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Historic Casa Sauri — located at Plaza Muñoz Rivera, within the Ponce Historic Zone, in Barrio Segundo, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

In 1882, Saurí Vivas built a two-story home, which later became known as Casa Saurí, in downtown Ponce, across from Plaza Muñoz Rivera, in today's Ponce Historic Zone. The house is said to be the third-oldest residence still standing in Ponce.[9] It is located on the southwest corner of Calle Union and Calle Reina. In 1912, his home was used as the first site of Liceo Ponceño, Puerto Rico's first girls-only school.[10]

After Liceo Ponceño vacated the home around the 1950s-1960s, the house was occupied for several years by various small businesses, including a travel agency and a toy store. Subsequently, it was vacant for several years. Then, in 2006-2009, the 1882 Casa Saurí was meticulously renovated and adapted as part of a new hotel, the Ponce Plaza Hotel & Casino, which opened in 2009. The hotel design included a four-story addition located next to the house, and a parking garage.[11][9]

Death

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Félix Saurí Vivas died on December 25, 1915 at the age of 65. He was buried at Cementerio Católico San Vicente de Paul in Ponce.

Legacy

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In addition to leaving the majestic house in downtown Ponce as his legacy, mayor Félix Saurí Vivas is also honored at Ponce's Park of Illustrious Ponce Citizens.[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Socorro Girón. Ponce, el teatro La Perla y La Campana de la Almudaina. Gobierno Municipal de Ponce. 1992. Page 317.
  2. ^ 1910 United States Federal Census
  3. ^ New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957
  4. ^ a b Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001
  5. ^ Luis Fortuno Janeiro. Album Histórico de Ponce (1692-1963). Page 374. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Imprenta Fortuno. 1963.
  6. ^ SAURI v. SAURI. 45 F.2d 90 (1930). Archived 1 July 2012 at archive.today SAURI v. SAURI et al. No. 2440. Circuit Court of Appeals, First Circuit. November 26, 1930. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  7. ^ Ponce: Mayors. Archived 2012-07-07 at the Wayback Machine Encyclopedia Puerto Rico. Fundación Puertoriqueña de las Humanidades. 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  8. ^ Memorias del Primer Congreso sobre la Emigración Española hacia el Area del Caribe desde Finales del Siglo XIX. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana: Fundación García Arévalo : Casa de España en Santo Domingo : Centro Cultural Español, 2002. Accessed 13 June 2019.
  9. ^ a b "Abre hotel Ramada en Ponce con inversión local" Archived 30 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, NotiUno, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 2 July 2009. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  10. ^ Luis Fortuño Janeiro. Album Histórico de Ponce (1692-1963). Page 374. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Imprenta Fortuño. 1963. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  11. ^ Hotel Ponce Plaza. Archived 26 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Bonnin Orozco Arquitectos. 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  12. ^ Politics. Travel Ponce. Politics section. Retrieved 28 February 2013.

Further reading

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  • Fay Fowlie de Flores. Ponce, Perla del Sur: Una Bibliográfica Anotada. Second Edition. 1997. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Universidad de Puerto Rico en Ponce. p. 110. Item 566. LCCN 92-75480
  • Guillermo Atiles Garcia. Kaleidoscopio. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Establecimiento tipográfico de Manuel López. 1905. (Colegio Universitario Tecnológico de Ponce, CUTPO)


Political offices
Preceded by Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico
13 May 1895 - 11 July 1895
Succeeded by