Casa Eleta, in La Cresta, is one of the landmarks of modern architecture in Panama. Built in 1953 to a design by American architect Edward Durell Stone —author of the MoMA and the Kennedy Center—, it won the “House of the Year” award from the Panamanian Society of Engineers and Architects (SPIA). Its cantilevers, brick sunscreens and natural ventilation make it a lesson in tropical design, and within its walls began the story of the song “Historia de un amor.”
This content is part of the ConstructHUBS Digital Magazine, within our editorial line dedicated to architecture and design.
We toured the house with Daniel González, graphic designer and creator of @ModernPTY, the project that documents Panamanian modern architecture (from the late 1930s to the 1960s) and that grew from an Instagram account into a cultural movement that has led more than 3,000 people to rediscover the city on its guided tours.
You can also read the version published in the April 2026 issue of Construcción en Panamá magazine (in Spanish).
An oasis in La Cresta
La Cresta is a purely residential neighborhood that González describes as an “oasis” amid the urban chaos. On a hill that once offered an uninterrupted view to the Amador islands and the sea stands the residence that belonged to Don Fernando Eleta.
Who designed Casa Eleta?
The design was by architect Edward Durell Stone, whose work includes Radio City Music Hall, the MoMA in New York and the Kennedy Center. But the house also bears its owner’s signature: Fernando Eleta, an MIT-trained engineer, was actively involved in designing the cantilevered structures of the balconies and terraces.
The result was a structure that pushed the limits of its time and that, under today’s safety codes, would be almost impossible to replicate without modifications.
Keys to its modern architecture
- Brick: it “dresses” the façade with textures and shapes designed specifically for the house.
- Sunscreens (quiebrasoles): they provide geometry, privacy and cross ventilation.
- Designed without air conditioning: high ceilings and “Miami Windows,” still original and working, keep it naturally cool. Air conditioning was added years later only in bedrooms and the study.
- Original interiors: floors that, according to González, “will never be made again,” and pastel bathrooms with curved-edge tiles.
- Social area: a pool with small mosaic tiles that connects visually with the living room and bedrooms through large windows, and a bar with louvered doors.
These ventilation and solar control strategies are the basis of what we now call bioclimatic architecture.
The mosaic and the story of “Historia de un amor”
The most moving element is the staircase leading down to the pool. Its mosaic portrays two of the family’s children; the absence of the third daughter, Aurora, recalls a tragedy: her mother, Mercedes Casanovas, died of polio at Gorgas Hospital in 1954, three days after Aurora was born.
That grief inspired her brother-in-law, composer Carlos Eleta, to write “Historia de un amor” that same day, a song that has traveled the world in voices such as Luis Miguel’s.
Other stories within its walls
On the property there is a second building, a small “rotunda” or guest house, where singer Miguel Bosé spent his first months of life after being born in Panama. In the main house, one room served the owner’s hobby of radio communications.
A legacy that must endure
When we visited, the house was unoccupied but maintained by its owners, relatives of the Eleta family, who refuse to demolish it. There is a project to restore it while preserving its original volumes.
ModernPTY’s tours aim for exactly that: helping Panamanians and visitors look beyond a building’s current condition and value a heritage that often goes unnoticed. His work has been recognized by the Colegio de Arquitectos de Panamá. To learn about upcoming tours, you can follow Daniel González on Instagram at @ModernPTY.
Frequently asked questions about Casa Eleta
Where is Casa Eleta?
In the residential neighborhood of La Cresta, in Panama City.
Who was its architect?
Edward Durell Stone, with engineer Fernando Eleta involved in the cantilevered structures.
How is it connected to “Historia de un amor”?
Carlos Eleta wrote the song after the death of Mercedes Casanovas, his brother’s wife and the mother of the children portrayed in the house’s mosaic.
