“Un neoclásico propio”: Trujillo’s National Palace and the Built Legacies of US Imperialism in the Dominican Republic, 1907–47

This paper examines how U.S. imperialism shaped the architectural landscape of the Dominican Republic in the early-twentieth century, culminating in the construction of the National Palace in 1947 under the authoritarian rule of Rafael Trujillo. Rather than viewing the Palace solely as a symbol of post-occupation sovereignty, we analyse it as an expression of un neoclásico propio—a Dominican version of neoclassicism. Built on the site of the plantation-style Customs Receiver’s residence that embodied the economic dominance of the US during the 1916-24 occupation, the Palace asserts a Dominican identity grounded in colonial heritage. We argue that this hybrid architectural language emerged through the very legacies it sought to overcome. Tracing the connections between colonial buildings, imperial infrastructure, and monumental nationalism, the paper reveals how Trujillo’s regime manipulated architecture to erase signs of US imperial control while reinforcing its own authoritarian ideology under the guise of cultural renaissance and national pride.