Condado (Santurce)

About

Condado (Spanish for ''county'') is a highly urbanized beachfront resort, commercial, and residential district with various upscale hotels, restaurants, boutique shops, and condos in the barrio of Santurce in San Juan, the capital municipality of Puerto Rico. Located about 2 to 6 miles (3.2 to 9.7 km) from the Old San Juan historic quarter, Isla Verde resort area, Hato Rey business center, and SJU airport, the district is centered around Ashford Avenue, which extends east–west for about 1.77 miles (2.85 km) from the Parque and Ocean Park residential areas to Dos Hermanos Bridge in San Juan Islet, where Old San Juan is situated. It is named after Count Pablo Ubarri, who built the San Juan Tramway, the first passenger steam and electric tramway in the main island operating from Old San Juan through Santurce to the Río Piedras district, in 1880.

Vacant until the turn of the 20th century, the real estate development of Condado began with the construction of the Ashford Presbyterian Community Hospital in 1904 by Grace Williams Atkins, Casa Mora (Moor House) in 1909 and Dos Hermanos Bridge in 1910 by Hernand and Sosthenes Behn, "Condado" passenger electric tramway in 1911 by Porto Rico Railway, Light & Power Co. (PRRL&P), Ashford House in 1912 by Bailey Ashford, and Vanderbilt Hotel in 1919 by Frederick Vanderbilt.