Cuartel de Ballajá

The Spanish military built the Cuartel de Ballajá between 1854 and 1864 — the last large-scale construction project the Spanish Crown undertook in the Americas. It housed over a thousand soldiers and their families, along with storage rooms, kitchens, mess halls, dungeons, and horse stables, across 7,700 square meters wrapped around a vast interior patio. On May 12, 1898, Admiral William T. Sampson's fleet bombarded San Juan and hit the barracks. The building changed hands with the island. The government of Puerto Rico acquired it in 1976 and restored it between 1990 and 1993. The Museo de las Américas opened on the second floor in 1992 and remains there.