The Casa Cohen, a Historic Rubber Boom Building in Iquitos
Iquitos is home to many beautiful mansions that date back to the days of the rubber boom, when money flowed through the hands of newly rich locals and moneyed immigrants alike. It’s no great surprise, then, to find a modern, handy, but otherwise unremarkable supermarket located inside one of the city’s finest examples of rubber boom architecture.
The Casa Cohen was built by one of the first Jewish arrivals in Iquitos, Jaime Cohen, who arrived in 1896.
By 1905, Cohen was running a successful business from the Casa Cohen, importing European products and exporting local rubber.
The Casa Cohen is located on the corner of Prospero and Morona, just a couple of blocks from the Plaza de Armas (and Eiffel’s Iron House) and one block up from the riverside boulevard. The Los Portales supermarket -- named after the numerous doors or “portals” in the building’s façade -- dominates the interior of the large one-floor building. You can still see some of the original architecture from inside the supermarket, but it’s the exterior that has the most notable details.
From the outside, you can clearly see the multiple arched doors that line the exterior walls, a trait shared by many buildings of this era in Iquitos. The main door at the corner of the building has false columns to the left and right.
Of particular importance are the azulejos that cover most of the façade. These painted and tin-glazed ceramic tiles give the Casa Cohen its distinctive light-blue color.
The azulejos were probably shipped to Iquitos from Spain or Portugal -- the wealth of the rubber barons placed few luxuries out of their reach, even if they had to be imported from the Old World.
The Casa Cohen was built by one of the first Jewish arrivals in Iquitos, Jaime Cohen, who arrived in 1896.
By 1905, Cohen was running a successful business from the Casa Cohen, importing European products and exporting local rubber.
The Casa Cohen is located on the corner of Prospero and Morona, just a couple of blocks from the Plaza de Armas (and Eiffel’s Iron House) and one block up from the riverside boulevard. The Los Portales supermarket -- named after the numerous doors or “portals” in the building’s façade -- dominates the interior of the large one-floor building. You can still see some of the original architecture from inside the supermarket, but it’s the exterior that has the most notable details.
From the outside, you can clearly see the multiple arched doors that line the exterior walls, a trait shared by many buildings of this era in Iquitos. The main door at the corner of the building has false columns to the left and right.
Of particular importance are the azulejos that cover most of the façade. These painted and tin-glazed ceramic tiles give the Casa Cohen its distinctive light-blue color.
The azulejos were probably shipped to Iquitos from Spain or Portugal -- the wealth of the rubber barons placed few luxuries out of their reach, even if they had to be imported from the Old World.