HOUSES FOR WORKERS: SOCIAL HOUSING OF LIMA'S PUBLIC WELFARE

Abstract

The Worker Houses program of the Lima Public Charity (Beneficencia Pública de Lima - BPL) was the first continuous official effort oriented to providing decent housing for the lowest income sectors of republican Lima. The project was possible thanks to the convergence of the social intention of an financial powerful institution like BPL and the necessary technical knowledge and criteria, supplied by the prestigious peruvian architect Rafael Marquina. The history, circumstances and features of the so called Worker Houses, inspired by local and foreign models, will be subject of the development of the present article.