|
New Life for Tijuana's 1957 Post Office?
By Maria E Curry
May/June 2021
Tijuana's oldest standing post office was built in 1957 in the International Modernist style. This federal building could be adapted into a library and cultural center, replacing the city's current main library. Baja California's governor, Jaime Bonilla, aims to dismantle and relocate the contents of the Benito Juarez Library from the Rio Zone to downtown, in the semi-abandoned post office. To achieve Bonilla's goal, the federally owned building must be donated to the Baja California government first, amid some fading public opposition. The state preservation law (Ley de Preservación del Patrimonio Cultural de Baja California) could be used to facilitate the preservation process.
According to Tijuana's Comisión de Preservación and the Consejo de Preservación del Patrimonio Cultural, the post office is eligible for designation as a state cultural resource. State preservation law establishes the legal framework for the protection of eligible and designated resources in the articles summarized below:
 The 1957 Post and Telegraph office, seen in a vintage postcard, on the corner of Calles Negrete and Once in downtown Tijuana. Courtesy Maria Curry |
 Pedro Ochoa of the Baja California Ministry of Culture, presents a proposal in February 2021 to transform the old post office building into a cultural center and library. Photo courtesy Alfredo Alvarez Facebook page |
- 72A Preservation measures will be established on land use changes, demolitions, alterations, and modifications to cultural resources if they are part of inventories accredited by the Instituto de Cultura de Baja Caifornia (ICBC).
- 72B The state and municipal governments should include in their urban development and investment programs the acquisition, restoration, and use of abandoned historic buildings, before building new construction.
- 72C The ICBC will promote the acquisition through special permit, donation, expropriation, or transfer of rights from buildings, structures, and zones of historic and natural value for its preservation, according to the preservation law.
- 72D The ICBC will apply emergency measures to avoid demolitions, alterations, and modifications of cultural resources eligible for designation if they reunite historic, artistic, or cultural values.
Based on the legal articles cited above, the main library's contents could be moved to the old post office after donation. It can also be designated cultural heritage and preserved by adaptive reuse. Separately, the newspaper collection housed within the main library is eligible for designation as a cultural resource and needs to be carefully removed, inventoried, and protected.
The restoration and adaptive reuse of the old post office could promote urban revitalization in the surrounding deteriorated area. But, because Bonilla's term ends this year, it is unlikely that the project can be achieved by then. However, preservationists and library patrons must urge the next state administration to pursue this proposal, thereby adding cultural value to Tijuana's downtown.
|
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
|
