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SALVA
LA SELVA
SAVE THE RAINFOREST
RECYCLE OUR BATTERIES!
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A brief history of the Iron House
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Located at the corner of Próspero and
Putumayo Streets, overlooking the Plaza de Armas, is the Iron House. It was
designed by the famous French architect Gustave Eiffel, for the World Fair
of 1889 in Paris. It is said to be the first pre-fabricated house in South
America.
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The house, which was designed as a large
residence, was built at the Belgian workshops of Les Forjes D´Aisseau, entirely made of rectangular iron sheets. At the
end of the nineteenth century, at the height of the ‘Rubber
Boom’, which brought great prosperity to Iquitos, rubber baron
Anselmo del Águila bought the house in Paris, and had it shipped to
Iquitos. It is said that hundreds of men carried the iron parts through the
jungle to its current location. Since 1985, the offices of the Social Club
of Iquitos are located here, while the ground floor houses a pharmacy and
several souvenir shops.
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On the first floor, you will find a
restaurant with outside dining on the balcony, overlooking Plaza de Armas.
Currently, the house belongs to Mrs. Judith Acosta
Vda. De Fortes and is protected by the Patrimonio
Histórico Cultural de la Nación.
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