Pedro Adolfo de Castro

Schooling At the age of 19, in 1914, he traveled to New York where he attended school at the Syracuse University, graduating in 1918 with a degree in architecture. He was the first Puerto Rican to graduate from a U.S. school of architecture.

Career Returning to Puerto Rico in 1918, De Castro Besosa started working at the Puerto Rico Department of the Interior in San Juan, under the direction of Puerto Rico's state architect Adrian Finlayson. During his two-year stay with the government of Puerto Rico (1919-1921), he designed the Puerto Rico Capitol building and the Escuela Central de Santurce building. During the years between 1918 and 1936, De Castro Besosa designed over 160 residential projects, 35 apartment buildings, 16 theaters, plus several commercial buildings and civic clubs. He also worked extensively in the Dominican Republic,

Several of his works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Works include: Casa de España, Ponce de Leon Ave., San Juan, Puerto Rico (de Castro, Pedro), NRHP-listed He was 41 years old. One of De Castro Besosa's four children, Pedro A. de Castro Gayá (b. 1919), also became a notable architect in Puerto Rico,