Lazareto Isla de Cabras, Parque Nacional Isla de Cabras, Toa Baja, Toa Baja Municipio, PR

2016 Leicester B. Holland Prize, First Place
Significance: The lazaretto's original purpose was to house yellow fever and cholera victims, but few remember that noble commitment today. Instead, for over a century -and in spite of its ruinous state -the lazaretto has been an emblematic landscape component of San Juan's Bay. Its distinctive profile has been appreciated by many generations of residents and visitors to the old city.

It represents the only example of its kind ever built in Puerto Rico, simultaneously underlining how Spanish colonial building codes required health related facilities to be built outside the walled enclave. Its construction methods highlight building practices imposed on the Island (and Cuba) by Madrid's School of Engineers, Roads, and Port Facilities. The project's dossier (narrative) became the precedent for detailing succeeding comparable building initiatives in terms of scope, tectonics, and contents.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N2236
Survey number: HABS PR-140
Building/structure dates: 1865 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1876 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1878 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1883 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1884 Subsequent Work