Blas C. Silva Boucher

• Name — Blas Silva • Birth Name — Blas C. Silva Boucher • Birthplace — Hormigueros, Puerto Rico • Died — 27 January 1949 2 February 1869 • Place of death — Ponce, Puerto Rico • Known for — Engineering • Movement — Ponce Creole architecture • Notable Works — Font-Ubides House, Subira Residence, Salazar-Candal House • Education — Spanish National Engineering School

Blas Cornelio Silva Boucher was born in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico on 2 February 1869.

Silva received his high school diploma from the Liceo de Mayaguez (Mayaguez Liceum) and then studied engineering in Spain through a scholarship from the Sociedad Protectora de la Inteligencia (Intelligence Protection Society). In Madrid, Silva did freelance school work in road, drainage, and ports engineering. He then entered the prestigious Spanish National Engineering School where he studied for eight years. He did his practicums in Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia, Spain.

He returned to the Island where he took an engineering position in the Puerto Rico Public Works Bureau. Three years later, he resigned to establish his own private engineering practice. When the post of City Engineer became vacant in the city of Ponce, Silva was unanimously selected, from among various applicants, as the candidate to fill the position.

The Puerto Rico Historical Preservation Office recently said of him, "Blas Silva was probably the most established of the 'wedding-cake architects' and was thus sought after mostly by the 'nouveau riche' of the period. Silva's houses are among the richest in Ponce, among which the [Font-Ubides] stands out for its circular porches." It added that "Silva, as had other foreign-trained architects, succeeded in integrating classical education with the traditional elements of the Spanish Caribbean."