The Temple of Peace of the Americas turns 100!
The building that houses the Headquarters of the OAS will celebrate its 100th anniversary in April 2010. The House of the Americas, as it is now called, was built with contributions from the member countries and a donation from Andrew Carnegie, the famous US philanthropist whose interest in inter-American peace and unity continued unabated throughout his life. In a letter addressed to US Secretary of State Elihu Root, Carnegie described his motives for donating 2/3 of the funds necessary for the construction of what he labeled an “American Temple of Peace, where the accredited representatives of all the Republics are to meet and bind together their respective nations in the bonds of unbroken peace.”
Construction of the House of the Americas began after the US Congress awarded the site to the OAS in 1908, establishing the area as international land. In May of that same year, US President Theodore Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the building in front of an audience of nearly five thousand people. Architects Albert Kelsey and Paul Cret of Philadelphia were chosen to design the House of the Americas. Consequently, they were challenged to create a building which would express the cultural and racial diversity of the Hemisphere. The result would be "a meeting place in which citizens of all countries of the Americas felt at home."
On April 26, 1910, US President William Taft inaugurated the House of the Americas by planting a Peace Tree in the tropical patio and dedicating the building to the 21 member states that belonged to the Organization at the time. The House of the Americas is an artistic and historical marvel that brings together all nations of the Americas to negotiate agreements, discuss the settlement of disputes and to put forth ideas to confront the challenges of our day. In this House, all ethnic, ancestral, and cultural variations are duly respected.
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