Luis Escobar / La Paz
On the morning of March 6, four shelves were installed on the front of a heritage house that was recently restored and is located on the pedestrian street Evaristo Valle, in La Paz. According to the owner of the property, the shelves were placed by force and damaged the facade.
The installation was done without consulting the owner of the house, the merchants of the sector, or the Lanza market. The owner traveled for two months through five City Hall offices, one of which was the office of Mayor Iván Arias, without obtaining a solution. Page Seven searched for the commune’s counterpart, but did not get an answer.
Photo: Page Seven
The merchants took advantage of the night to carry the metal shelves, destroyed part of the facade moldings and installed the structures with cement at the base. An element that, according to the architect Ronald Terán, “is an attack” against the property. “They damaged the downspouts and to fit the shelves they destroyed part of the moldings. They did it the wrong way because, in addition, this must be authorized by the Mayor’s Office, “said the professional who was in charge of the restoration.
This property is on Evaristo Valle and Tiquina. He was about to collapse completely. One of the corners, four or five years ago, fell off. Nieves Condori bought the property and undertook to restore it. In this task she invested more than 840 thousand Bolivians. This amount does not include extensions or complementary works.
Terán explained that this property is a “unique” building in the city. The ground floor was built in colonial times, the first floor was made in the Republic; the third level has a neoclassical style; and the fourth is art deco. “In the last level there are thin walls of 10 centimeters that were made in 1900. Each of the systems was respected, restored and in several cases even rebuilt,” he said.
Photo: Carlos Sánchez / Page Seven
The house is within the Evaristo Valle complex protected by municipal law 079 which -in addition- exempts it from taxes. A benefit that the owner could not achieve and she continues to pay her taxes daily and without delay.
According to the owner, the restoration of the house was difficult. “It was a long process and we had to undertake the work in the days when there was a forced change of government. It was not possible to work, but we continued the works”, she said and recounted that she was afraid to go up to the second or third floor for fear of collapsing.
Despite the rules that protect the property and the street itself, the shelves were installed on March 6. Fernando Luján, the owner’s lawyer, said that the merchants alleged an agreement from 2010 that would allow them to relocate, but it had to be “arranged” with different sectors.
The lawyer showed notes, statements and letters from the neighborhood association, the unions that are in the surroundings and in the Lanza market that reject the installation of these structures. The owner made a pilgrimage to the markets department, the deputy mayor’s office, the Council, the governance department and the mayor’s office without receiving a response. “The only thing they tell us is to wait and two months have already passed in which the shelves continue. The only thing they are looking for is to consolidate, ”she warned.
Page Seven called the secretary and the market directorate, but they did not answer.
