Mcgregor's Corner in Maracaibo

This was the most popular place in Maracaibo from the 1930's until the end of the 1960's and maybe even the 1970's with a French style where the mercuries that adorn the upper part of the windows stand out.

The building in question has a long history. It was built in 1892 by Welsh engineers for Emilio Mc Gregor, it has two floors, and after being a warehouse, a dwelling house, and the headquarters of the Club Comercio, in 1919 Carlos Martinez rented it and established the Mac Gregor firm, which became the first department store in the city and the one with the most customers, but it would be on the outskirts of the city where the city beat like a great heart, since it was in the Plaza Baralt where the people gathered.

On that corner, which is the intersection of Colón and Comercio Streets, the streetcar used to run and after its disappearance in 1930 and until 1952, a manual gasoline pump was placed on the sidewalk, which operated by gravity and was owned by Abraham Vargas, where the small transport cages that were inherited by the passengers of the streetcar and the few cars of the 30's and 40's were supplied.

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The "lucky parakeet" was very famous there. It was a man with a parakeet and a little box with papers where he read the fortune of the customer who paid for the bird to take them out.

Between the 30's and 40's, the sector had a 24-hour presence of people and the newspapers of the time installed blackboards where they wrote down the breaking news that arrived to their editorial offices.

Fans of baseball, horse racing and other games and sports, along with the people of all social classes gathered there and the gatherings were endless, also the informal trade was taking over the entire square.

There, business partnerships were formed, marriages were conceived, lovers met, and it even served as a place for the most unknown purposes.

It survived the destruction of the Saladillo but a voracious fire in 1978 destroyed the internal part of the building, leaving only the external walls, including the one on the corner, standing.

At that time and since 1950, it had become an improvised commercial center with stores such as Calzados Ciro, Molko and the Casa Eléctrica, with Mac Gregor occupying the back of the place.

The vacating of the Plaza Baralt and the new times put an end to the old custom of meeting there and although commercially it has continued to be the home of some vendors, it is now only part of local history.

They have recently decided to restore the area and among the buildings is this one.

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