Centenario: 5 Hidden Facades That Tell Its Story

Centenario: the open-air museum few people look at

Did you know that in the Centenario neighborhood of Cali there are more than 40 buildings with over 70 years of history, and that most people pass by them without looking up? While the city races westward, toward glass towers and shopping malls, this neighborhood in the east-central area holds a silent conversation between the Cali of the 1940s and today. It's not a museum with a ticket booth or official guided tours: it's an open-air museum where the facades speak, and you only need to walk 20 minutes to learn to listen to them.

This article is for you, who live here or have just arrived as a digital nomad and want to understand the city beyond Parque del Perro. For you, architecture student looking for real examples of art deco and republican style without leaving Cali. And for you, who simply love discovering that any corner holds a story that no one tells. We're going to tour five specific facades, with exact addresses, architectural styles, and the anecdotes that make them unique.

Introduction: what makes Centenario special

Centenario was born in 1917, when Cali barely exceeded 30,000 inhabitants. It was one of the first planned neighborhoods outside the colonial center, designed for the emerging middle class: merchants, doctors, engineers, and the first professional families of the city. Its layout of wide streets and regular blocks was a novelty at the time, and its strategic location —between the train station and the administrative center— made it the ideal place to live if you worked in the city that was beginning to industrialize.

Today, Centenario is a neighborhood of contrasts: modern office buildings coexist with houses from the 1930s, and bank headquarters share a block with mechanic workshops and neighborhood stores. But that chaotic mix is precisely its charm. It's not a "pretty" neighborhood in the tourist sense; it's a real neighborhood, with layers of history that overlap like the paints on a wall that has never been fully scraped.

What makes Centenario unique is that, unlike San Antonio or Granada, there was no gentrification process here that "cleaned up" the history. The facades are still the original ones in many cases, with their faded signs, their cement moldings, and their wrought iron balconies. It's a living testimony of what Cali was like before shopping malls and gated communities changed the way the city is inhabited.

In August 2026, as the city continues to discuss urban renewal projects for the center, this neighborhood is at a crossroads. On one hand, there's real estate pressure to demolish and build towers. On the other, a growing community of architects, historians, and residents fighting for its preservation. By walking these blocks, you become part of that conversation.

The 5 facades you must know, no exceptions

This tour doesn't follow a perfect chronological or geographical order. Rather, it's a personal selection of the facades that best tell the neighborhood's story. Each one has its own voice, its own style, and its own anecdote. Take note, put on comfortable shoes, and go for a walk.

1. La Casa del Ferrocarril: art deco at Carrera 3 with Calle 14

On the corner of Carrera 3 with Calle 14, half a block from the old train station, stands a house that looks like it came out of a 1940s movie. It's a two-story building with a late art deco facade, a style that in Cali became popular precisely due to the influence of films and magazines that arrived through the port of Buenaventura.

The first thing that catches your attention is the geometric molding decorating the cornice: vertical lines that repeat like piano keys, topped at the corner by a small balcony with a wrought iron railing with spiral motifs. The main door is carved wood, with a semicircular arch that's not common in art deco; it's a curious mix that local architects call "tropicalized art deco," because it adapted European patterns to the climate and materials available in Cali.

The anecdote: this house was built in 1942 by an engineer who worked on the Pacific railroad. His family lived there until the 1980s, when they sold it to a transport company. Today, the first floor is a spare parts warehouse, but the facade remains intact. If you look closely, you can still see the initials "J.R." carved into the keystone of the door arch: those of the first owner, Jorge Rengifo. There's no plaque announcing it, but the older neighbors in the neighborhood know it.

To read this facade, look up: most people focus on the commercial signs on the first floor, but the history is on the second. Notice how the windows have concrete frames that protrude a few centimeters, creating a play of shadows that changes throughout the day. That's typical of art deco: architecture as visual spectacle.

2. La Casa Republicana de la Calle 12: the style that defined an era

On Calle 12 between Carreras 4 and 5, there's a house that stands out for its elegant sobriety. It's in the republican style, the style that dominated Colombian architecture between 1880 and 1930, characterized by high ceilings, symmetrical windows, and balconies with turned wooden railings. This particular house has a unique feature: its facade is painted a mustard yellow that isn't original, but it respects the color palette of the era.

The facade has three well-marked vertical axes: the main door in the center, flanked by two tall windows with wrought iron grilles. Above, a continuous balcony with a wooden railing runs across the entire front of the second floor. The moldings around the windows are simple, but they have an interesting detail: small volutes at the upper corners, as if they were the last letters of a signature.

The story of this house is the story of Cali's middle class. It was built in 1928 by a fabric merchant who had made a fortune exporting coffee. His daughter, now elderly, recounted in a local interview that the house had an inner courtyard with a mango tree that shaded the entire block. That mango tree no longer exists, but the courtyard is still there, now converted into a small home-cooking restaurant that opens at noon.

A curious fact: this house is one of the few in the neighborhood that preserves its original wooden door with carved panels. If you touch it, you'll feel the thick, heavy wood, made to last. The carpenters who made it were masters from Popayán, famous in the region for their craft. There's no mark or signature, but the quality of the work speaks for itself.

3. La Esquina del Modernismo: Carrera 5 with Calle 13

On the corner of Carrera 5 with Calle 13, there's a building that looks like it's from another city. It's an early example of modern architecture in Cali, built in 1958 by an architect who had studied in Bogotá and brought back the ideas of the European modern movement. The facade has clean lines, without moldings or ornaments, with large horizontal windows that run across the entire front.

What makes this building special is its rounded corner. Instead of a right angle, the corner curves gently, as if the building had been shaped by the wind. That detail, which today seems common, was revolutionary at the time. Buildings of that era had straight corners; this curve was a statement of intent: Cali was looking toward the future.

The building was constructed to house the offices of an insurance company, and its design responded to a modern idea of architecture: form follows function. The large windows weren't decorative; they allowed natural light to enter the offices, reducing the need for artificial light. The balconies, which in earlier styles were a transition space between the street and the house, disappeared entirely here: the building opens directly onto the street, without mediation.

Today, the first floor is a bank branch, and the upper floors are offices rented by the hour. But if you look closely, you can still see the original details: the exposed concrete slabs, the aluminum windows that are no longer manufactured, and a small sign on the facade that says "Arquitecto: H. Gómez," carved into the concrete, like a signature on a work of art.

4. La Casa de los Espejos: a mystery on Calle 11

On Calle 11 between Carreras 3 and 4, there's a house that locals call "la casa de los espejos" (the house of mirrors). It's not an official name, but everyone in the neighborhood knows it. The facade is in an eclectic style, with influences from neoclassicism and art nouveau, and it has a unique feature: the windows on the second floor are framed by beveled mirrors that reflect light in a particular way.

No one knows exactly why mirrors were placed on the facade. Some say it was to reflect the light from street lamps and thus better illuminate the house in an era without constant electricity. Others believe it was a way to ward off evil spirits, a belief from the African tradition that many Cali residents preserve. What is certain is that the mirrors are still there, worn by time, but still shining when the afternoon sun touches them.

The house was built in 1935 by a family of Syrian-Lebanese origin that arrived in Cali during the migration wave of the early 20th century. Arabs were fundamental to the commercial development of the city, and this family was no exception: they opened a fabric store on the first floor, which operated until the 1970s. The facade has signs