Lucchetti Public School
The Condado School or Lucchetti High School was the second school project designed by Nechodoma in Puerto Rico after the public school in the town of Isabel Segunda in Vieques which can be seen in the Antonin Nechodoma page. It is reasonable to believe that the windows in the original design were more like the ones that can be seen on the Vieques school rather than the current Miami style windows.
Construction of this building was sponsored by Louise (Luisa) Mendes-Monsanto Lopez (1854-1927) also known as Madam Lucchetti due to her second marriage. Luisa was born in the Danish island of St. Thomas of French descent. She married Venezuela born of German descent and St. Thomas resident Richard William Behn (1840-1889), of which mariage were born Hernand (1880-1933) and Sosthenes (1882-1957) Behn.
A year after Richard Behn's death, Luisa married Corsican immigrant from Rogliano Sosthenes Lucchetti Piccioni (1837-1899), a good family friend and young Sosthenes Behn's Godfather. From that marriage was born Madeline Catherine Valentine Lucchetti Mendes in 1891.
Sosthenes Lucchetti Piccioni was the brother of Mateo Lucchetti Piccioni (1825-1905), a resident of St. Thomas since 1848 who emigrated to Puerto Rico in 1877. Since 1887 Mateo had owned Hacienda Quebrada Palma in Naguabo. On the way to the Hacienda he died unexpectedly by drowning when his carriage was overthrown by the waters of the Fajardo River. At the time of his death, Hernand was living in Puerto Rico and working as Traffic Manager of the American Railroad Company of PR. Shortly thereafter, Sosthenes moved to Puerto Rico from New York and together they took over Mateo's businesses. The brothers soon expanded their uncle's sugar growing and processing business and divested into other ventures including Behn Brothers, a company engaged in the sugar brokering business.
In 1898 Mateo had acquired some one hundred and fifty acres of land from Jose Cerra Gonzalez. In his last will and testament, he left the land to his niece Medeline Catherine Valentine Lucchetti Mendes. In 1908 Hernand and Sosthenes joined with their stepsister Madeline and began the development the land into what is known today as the Condado area of San Juan. Two of the main streets in El Condado are Luisa Street and Magdalena Avenue, the first one in honor of Louise Mendes-Monsanto Lopez and the second one in honor of Madeline Catherine Valentine Lucchetti Mendes.
In 1908, Madam Lucchetti sponsored the design and construction of this school at one of the the main entrances to the newly developing area. Due to its location on a wedge shaped corner, the floor plan is V shaped with a central stairway at the entrance of the two wings. In 2018 the Luchetti School was closed. In September 2021 the property was sold at auction by the government and awarded to St. John's School who said it would use it to relocate its elementary school.