Palacio Pedroso, Havana, built in 1780 by Mateo Pedroso, a Cuban-born colonial administrator. photo Teresa Casas 2009A casa/almacen’s entresuelo gallery overlooking what is now a restaurant and souvenir emporium. photo Teresa Casas 2009This Batista family tree shows Ignacio Pedroso (whose father was Mateo Pedroso) was, in turn, the father of Joaquin and Luis.Mercedes (Chea) Gonzalez de Mendoza with Julia and Miguel, 1863-4.
Fechas de mi Vida memoir of Julia Batista Gonzalez de Mendoza. For English translation see Supporting Documents. (Teresita Batista records)Chea’s children who survived infancy, in birth order between 1856 and 1872, were: Miguel, Julia, Claudio, Maria Antonia, Felicia, Victor, Ramon, and Pablo. Click to see.Chea
After the death of Joaquin Pedroso, his massive home was divided in three for his inheritors. Above, the Aguiar side became the home of Ramirez de Arellano y Pedroso family. At the far end was the entrance where horses and coaches could enter the “traspatio” of the complex from the north/south Aguiar street. (Matilde Batista) Later, Antonio’s son in law, Dr. Gonzalo Arostegui, opened his consulting rooms on this side at street level. (Nena Arostegui) On the left, the convent of San Francisco. (street numbers were subsequently altered ). photos Teresa Casas 2009Purchasing the properties beside and in front of his home, Pedroso ensured there would be interior airflow by eliminating the possibility that anyone could construct upward around him . (Matilde Batista) View of east west Amargura street.After the 1879 death of Joaquin Pedroso, Antonio Gonzalez de Mendoza and Chea took possession of one third of the subdivided complex, Amargura #23 at the corner of Amargura and Aguiar streets. Amargura #21 was inherited by the Pedroso Mantilla family. Mendoza converted the ground floor for his law practice. The(Matilde Batista) Later, when sons Claudio and Ramon and grandson Antonio became lawyers, they set up their offices in the front of the adjoined house at #25.Following the Mediterranean tradition, colonial houses featured an interior patio, window blinds, high ceilings and galleries, elements designed to admit light and air while dividing the home between the upper domestic spaces and the ground floor business areas. Today the house is a community mental health clinic.As each of Antonio and Chea’s children began their married lives throughout the 1880’s, they and their growing families took up rooms in what had been opened up into a large family compound.In 1880 Miguel married Maria Josefa Montalvo y Chacon, a cousin. The following year Maria Antonia also married a cousin, Jose Maria Arellano, son of her maternal aunt who lived in the formerly neighboring home on Aguiar street that had been adjoined. Later in the 1880’s Claudio then Felcia married and brought their spouses to live in Amargura. Victor remained a bachelor and the two youngest Pablo and Ramon married in the late 1890’s.All legal papers had to be filed at an office near the Plaza de Armas. According to Nena Arostegui who lived there as a child, on weekdays, the sound of typewriters (among the first in Havana) filled the air in the downstairs law offices.Above, view of the entresuelo level where the bedrooms were located. According to Julia, her brother Claudio suggested, while they were standing together at a balcony in Amargura, that she marry Melchor, a young lawyer who had joined the family law firm. They married in 1883.Melchor and Julia’s daughter, Matilde, was a part of the Amargura household. She recounts that there was little conflict because Don Antonio and Chea set an example of “high moral conduct.” She adds that the women who cared for the children were distant relatives or friends, they were all devout Catholics and it was a time of great bounty. (Matilde Batista)In Amargura there were 6 cooks and their assistants, 15-20 nursemaids, several wet nurses, 10 coachmen, a multitude of personal servants, laundresses, etc. Each day, two meals were served at a table with at least 30 settings and served by 6 servants. First service was for the children and an hour later adults were served. At age eleven one graduated to the adult table.(Nena Arostegui)Vertigo del Tiempo, Memorias de Nena Arostegui, Natalia del Rio Bolivar, Publicaciones de la Oficina del Historiador de la Ciudad, 2006. The following four images are reproduced from Vertigo del Tiempo, the memoir of Antonio and Chea’s grand daughter, Maria Teresa “Nena” Arostegui.
According to Nena, Amargura etiquette demanded that all adults receive guests with Antonio and Chea on Saturday evenings. To honor Don Antonio on his feast day his grown children produced costumed dramas in which even the youngest members of the family took part. See Chapter 5
Nena describes Amargura as a child’s paradise where strict but sensible daily routines were balanced by the games, plays and carnivals organized for them by the two youngest Mendoza uncles, Ramon and Pablo.
La Sociedad Cubana del Siglo XIX, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, 2004, coverPortrait of the Gonzalez de Mendoza family, 1886, Jose Arburu Morell. Reproduced in La Sociedad Cubana del Siglo XIX. (A large-scale color reproduction of the painting was displayed at the 2007 Gonzalez de Mendoza reunion.)left to right: Ramon, Julia and Maria Antonia, Jose Maria Arellano, Maria G. Montalvo, Felicia holding child, Miguel. In front: Melchor Batista by piano and Claudio, seated. (left portion of reproduction Aruburu painting shown at 2007 Gonzalez de Mendoza family reunion)Gonzalo Arostegui, Maria Teresa Freyre de Andrade, Victor, seated, Antonio and Chea. (Pablo, boy in center, cropped from this right portion of reproduction).Melchor Batista y Varona was born in 1859 to a prominent family from Camaguey who had lost its fortune in the first war of independence and brought their children to Havana for their education at the Colegio de Belen, a prestigious school for boys run by the Jesuit Brothers. Too timid to approach his employer’s daughter, Julia had to gradually draw Melchor out to launch their courtship.Batista-Gonzalez de Mendoza boys in Amargura 1900 . Left to right: Victor, Manuel, Julio, Ernesto (behind chair), Agustin (in chair), Jorge and Melchor. Chea, who died in 1896, helped by buying clothing for the Batista children when Melchor’s reduced income due to illness made it impossible to maintain the appearance required in image conscious Havana society. photo from Nena Bolivar Arostegui: Vertigo del TiempoAntonio Gonzalez de Mendoza, from early edition of family book
