Over time it has been suggested that the 19th century was the one with the greatest splendor in terms of constructions. The houses built in the 18th and 19th centuries were modified because their owners had wealth from past centuries and many of the homes had to be transformed according to the construction methods of the 19th century. Already in the 20th century, the trend of eclecticism was incorporated into the town, and transformations were carried out that responded to the eclectic codes, mainly in facades, and sometimes even modifying the planimetric plan of the Trinitarian house from previous centuries.
It is divided into three zones and one amortization zone that respond to its historical-architectural values, its integrity and its state of conservation, where the main values given by the conservation of the road layout, the urban environment and the aesthetic value lie. maintained through historical evolution. The urban structure created around public spaces allows you to locate parks, squares, squares, museums, tourism, health, education, administrative facilities and homes.
The construction period is between the 18th and 20th centuries in its entirety. Houses with large doors and with spaces that occupy reception rooms that are reduced to the interior, in most cases there are gardens planted with traditional plants of the city. Creole tiles, bars and windows predominate, the central patio with a decorative sense and the eaves. The facades of the buildings represent decorative and functional elements that are representative of the period. Its pavement is original, characterized by its good state of conservation.
History of Sancti Spíritus
It was founded on June 4, 1514 by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, on the banks of the Tuinucú River, in what is currently called Pueblo Viejo, about 8 kilometers from its current location and in 1522 it was moved to its current headquarters, on the banks of the Yayabo River. It was the starting point of the Spanish conquest of the Yucatán.
The municipality of Sancti Spíritus was inhabited for the first time by various ethnic and aboriginal groups. It is said that each of them had the job of hunters because it is the only thing they had learned in their lands.
Francisco Iznaga, a wealthy Basque landowner who settled in the eastern region of Cuba during the first decades of the colonization of the island, was elected in 1540 alderman of the town of Bayamo, founded in 1513 by Diego Velázquez. Iznaga was the origin of a lineage that finally settled in Trinidad and Sancti Spíritus, in the south-central part of the island.
In the second half of that century, there were several groups of conspirators for the independence of Cuba in the region. Among them, Serafín Sánchez (1846-1896) stands out notably. The region and its capital city were fully involved in the wars of independence, between 1868 and 1898.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, this region was very important for the cultivation of sugar cane, the country's main economic source.