Victor Beltrí y Roqueta

Victor Beltrí was a modernist architect who designed many of the Modernist Buildings in Cartagena

Victor Beltrí y Roqueta 1862 - 1935

Víctor Beltrí y Roqueta was born in Tortosa, in the provinceof Tarragona, in 1862, and died in Cartagenain 1935. His father was the sculptor José María Beltrí Belilla, and Victor was trained at the Escuela de Arquitectura in Barcelona, where he was introduced to the contemporary modernist style.

After cutting his teeth in Tortosa and Gandía, in 1895 he moved to Cartagena, which at the time was being rebuilt after its ill-fated adventure as an independent canton, and this reconstruction was funded largely by the wealth in the city which resulted from the boom in the mining industry.

Beltrí lived in the city for 40 years, and became the official municipal architect. During his life here he carried out over 800 projects, and became recognized as one of the most important exponents of modernist principles.

2012 is the 150th anniversary of his birth.

Amongst the many projects he undertook were:

The Gran Hotel, the Casa Cervantes, the reform of the Casino, the Palacio Aguirre which today houses the MURAM Modern Art Museum, the Patronato del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Santa María la Vieja, Villa Calamari, also known as the Palacete Versalles, la Casa Dorda, la Casa Zapata, the Royal Regatta club of Cartagena, la Casa Llagostera, la Casa de la Misericordia, Parque Torres, the fachade of the Iglesia del Barrio Peral, the Asilo de la Concepción, the Hospitalidad Santa Teresa, the Casa del Niño and the Hotelito Azul in Los Urrutias.