Description
Reus is a neighborhood in the city of Montevideo, capital of Uruguay. In a very typical location.
Barrio Reus in Montevideo is the former residence to many of the local Jews, and today is the work place of many Jewish shop-keepers.
It stands out due to its modernist architecture and its homes that are painted in very different colors, making up an unusual landscape in relation to the rest of the country.
The fronts of the buildings were remodeled mainly by Italian workers and artists in the middle of the 20th century, introducing the concept of spiritu urbis.
It is currently home to families of middle and lower class, including a high percentage of Jewish population.
The neighborhood is named after Emilio Reus, a Spanish entrepreneur born in Madrid in 1858. Reus invested in the construction of homes to house construction workers and day laborers, in a project that took the extension of 66 hectares and employed 1500 people. His projects in the Uruguayan capital made him famous and set a period for national architecture known today as the "Reus period".
