The Cartagena That Never Was: Failed Architectural Projects That Shaped the City's Identity (1900-1960)

The Dream of a Modern Cartagena: Plans That Never Were

In 1929, a British engineer named William Fox presented to the Sociedad de Mejoras Públicas de Cartagena a plan that promised to turn the city into the Singapore of the Caribbean. On paper, Bocagrande was not a peninsula of skyscrapers, but an island split by a navigable canal 30 meters wide. Rowboats and yachts would dock in front of hotels, and an electric tram line would connect the walled center with the beaches. The project was called the "Grand Canal of the Avenida del Litoral." Not a single meter was ever excavated.

Today, when you walk along Avenida San Martín or have a coffee at Café del Mar watching the sunset over the Caribbean Sea, it is hard to imagine that the Cartagena you see is just one version of what could have been. Between 1900 and 1960, architects, politicians, and investors dreamed of a radically different city: more modern, larger, more connected. Some of those plans failed due to lack of funds, others due to citizen opposition, and a few because geography refused to cooperate. But these failures, paradoxically, shaped the identity of the Cartagena we love today.

This article is for those who look at a colonial facade and wonder what lies behind it. For those who know that a city is not only what was built, but also what was decided not to build. Because in the failed plans of Cartagena lies the story of how the city avoided becoming another Miami, and instead preserved a soul that attracts travelers from around the world.

Origins: The City That Wanted to Be Modern (1900-1930)

At the beginning of the 20th century, Cartagena was a city that still lived with its back to the sea. The walls that had protected it from pirates for centuries now enclosed it. The historic center, with its narrow streets and houses with balconies, was the heart of the city, but also a stone prison. The extramural neighborhoods like Getsemaní and La Matuna were beginning to grow, but without planning. The port, although active, lacked the infrastructure to compete with Barranquilla or Santa Marta.

In 1905, President Rafael Reyes promoted a railway law that promised to connect Cartagena with the interior of the country. The railway from Cartagena to Calamar, which would link the city with the Magdalena River, was the big bet. But construction was slow, costs skyrocketed, and when the train finally arrived in 1923, it was already obsolete compared to the rise of road transport. That first failure marked the beginning of an era of ambitious projects that rarely came to fruition.

It was in this context that the idea of a modern Cartagena emerged, with wide avenues, luxury hotels, an international airport, and a boardwalk that would rival that of Havana. The local elite, inspired by world's fairs and urban plans from Paris and Buenos Aires, hired foreign engineers to sketch the future. But the future, as we will see, always arrived late or not at all.

Timeline or Historical Milestones

• 1905: The contract for the Cartagena to Calamar Railway is signed. Works progress at a snail's pace.
• 1910: The national government proposes demolishing the walls of the historic center to facilitate urban expansion. The Sociedad de Mejoras Públicas fiercely opposes.
• 1923: Inauguration of the railway, but the rise of the automobile already makes it irrelevant.
• 1929: William Fox presents the Grand Canal of the Avenida del Litoral project. The New York stock market crash buries the idea.
• 1934: The Sociedad de Mejoras Públicas de Cartagena is founded, which will lead the defense of architectural heritage.
• 1940: Swiss architect Le Corbusier presents a design for the Hotel Caribe, but the board rejects it as "too radical."
• 1954: The Rafael Núñez Airport is inaugurated in Crespo, but on a much smaller plot than originally planned in Bocagrande.
• 1960: The plan for a continuous boardwalk from the center to Bocagrande is definitively shelved.

Key Figures or Events

William Fox and the Grand Canal of the Avenida del Litoral (1930)

The most visionary and outlandish project of 20th-century Cartagena was undoubtedly the Grand Canal. William Fox, an engineer who had worked on the Panama Canal, arrived in Cartagena in 1928 hired by the Bocagrande development company. His plan was simple in theory: excavate a 30-meter-wide canal that would cross the Bocagrande peninsula from north to south, connecting the inner bay with the open sea. On both sides of the canal, tree-lined avenues, hotels, casinos, and a pedestrian boardwalk would be built. The saltwater would circulate freely, creating a cooler microclimate and eliminating mosquitoes from the mangroves.

The original plan, preserved in the Archivo Histórico de Cartagena, shows a city that looks like Venice: secondary canals, drawbridges, and a water tram station. Fox calculated the project would cost 12 million dollars of the time, an astronomical figure. The economic crisis of 1929 ended any possibility of financing. But the dream did not die there; in the 1950s, a group of local businessmen revived the idea, this time to build a smaller canal that would serve as a marina. It also did not prosper.

Fun fact: If the canal had been built, Bocagrande would be an island, not a peninsula. The neighborhood of El Laguito, which today is one of the most exclusive areas of the city, would probably never have existed, because the canal would have passed right where the Capilla del Mar building stands today.

The Hotel Caribe That Could Have Been by Le Corbusier (1940)

In 1940, the board of directors of the Hotel Caribe, which was looking to build a new building facing the bay, contacted the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, one of the most influential figures in modern architecture. Le Corbusier, who had already designed projects in Latin America such as the Ministry of Education in Rio de Janeiro, accepted the commission. His proposal was a 20-story glass and steel skyscraper, with a facade that imitated the waves of the sea, garden terraces, and a helipad on the roof. The building would be the tallest in Colombia and the first fully modern hotel in the Caribbean.

But the board, made up of members of the Cartagena aristocracy, was horrified. "That looks like a beer factory," one of them said. "It is not fitting for our city." They preferred to commission the design from local architect Manuel de la Cruz, who opted for a neocolonial style with semicircular arches, tiled roofs, and wooden balconies. The Hotel Caribe we know today, with its white facade and tropical gardens, is the result of that rejection. Le Corbusier never worked in Colombia again.

Fun fact: Le Corbusier's original plans for the Hotel Caribe are exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In Cartagena, only a plaque in the lobby of the current hotel recalls that the building could have been very different.

The Demolition of the Walls That Never Happened (1910)

In 1910, the national government, under the presidency of Carlos Eduardo Restrepo, proposed demolishing the walls of the historic center. The argument was practical: the walls hindered the expansion of the city and made the transport of goods more expensive. Furthermore, in many cities around the world, medieval fortifications were being torn down to make way for modern avenues. In Cartagena, the idea was to replace the walls with a 40-meter-wide boulevard that would surround the center, similar to those being built in Paris.

Opposition was immediate. The Sociedad de Mejoras Públicas, led by historian Enrique Otero D'Costa, argued that the walls were the symbol of Cartagena's identity and that their demolition would be an act of barbarism. Marches were organized, articles were published in the local press, and letters were sent to Congress. The debate lasted three years. Finally, in 1913, the government desisted. The walls were saved, and with them, the historic center as we know it.

This event is crucial to understanding present-day Cartagena. If the walls had been demolished, the historic center would likely have been replaced by modern buildings, and the city would have lost its main tourist attraction. Instead, the defense of the walls set a precedent for the protection of architectural heritage that continues to this day. In 1984, UNESCO declared Cartagena a World Heritage Site, largely thanks to the preservation of its walls.

Current State: What Remains of Those Failed Dreams

Today, in June 2026, the failed projects of Cartagena live on in the details that travelers overlook. The Grand Canal of the Avenida del Litoral was never excavated, but its shadow persists in the shape of Avenida San Martín, which remains a straight, wide road, as if waiting for water to flow through it. In Bocagrande, buildings line up along what would have been the canal's edge, and in El Laguito, the name itself recalls the lagoon that the canal would have drained.

The Hotel Caribe, with its neocolonial style, is today an icon of the city, but also a reminder of what modern architecture could have been. Tourists taking photos in front of its white facade do not know that beneath their feet lie the plans for a Le Corbusier skyscraper. And in the historic center, the walls still stand, not only as a defense against pirates, but as a defense against the modernity that threatened to erase them.

The Cartagena that never was taught us a lesson: sometimes, failures are more important than successes. Because if the Grand Canal had been built, if Le Corbusier had designed the Hotel Caribe, if the walls had been demolished, the city would be unrecognizable. Probably richer, more connected, more modern. But also less Cartagena.

For nostalgic travelers and urban architects, there is a way to see that imagined city. The Biblioteca Bartolomé Calvo, in the historic center, has a collection of original plans for these projects. And since 2024, the library offers a digital map called "Cartagena Imaginada" that overlays historical plans onto the current city using augmented reality. You can download it for free from their website or scan the QR code at the library entrance. It is the closest way to walk through the Cartagena that never was.

Reference prices for June 2026: Entry to the Biblioteca Bartolomé Calvo is free. The digital map "Cartagena Imaginada" is downloaded at no cost, but it is recommended to bring a mobile device with sufficient battery and mobile data. The library is open Monday to Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. It is advisable to check hours before visiting.