Kindergarten Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes

The Casa Cuna de Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, a charitable institution created and financed by Miss Mercedes Castellanos, aims to care for children under three years of age whose mothers are in need of work and are therefore unable to devote themselves to the care of their children. In addition, a free medical clinic operates in the same building on certain days of the week. For the construction of the Casa-Cuna, a site was sought that would ensure midday sun for the children's playrooms and crèche rooms, and on which a small courtyard garden could be suitably installed to shelter the children from the rigours of the summer. La Casa Cuna de Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, institución benéfica creada y costeada por la Srta. Mercedes Castellanos, tiene por objeto cuidar a los niños menores de tres años cuyas madres se encuentran en la necesidad de trabajar y no pueden, por tanto, dedicarse al cuidado de sus hijos. Como complemento funciona en el mismo edificio, en determinados días de la semana, un consultorio médico gratuito. Se buscó para la construcción de la Casa-Cuna un solar que permitiera asegurar el sol de mediodía a los cuartos de juego y a los cuartos-cunas de los niños, y en el que se pudiera instalar, adecuadamente, un pequeño patio-jardín para resguardar a los niños de los rigores del verano. The building consists of two floors, basements and a small garden. On the ground floor, next to the large entrance hall, is the public consulting room and the doctors' laboratory with toilets and washbasins, and the mothers' waiting room, with its dressing and disinfection room, all of which can be easily monitored from the superior's office. The rest of the floor is entirely dedicated to the children with a large room for cots, open to the midday garden and the summer courtyard-garden; the dining room, the dietary kitchen and the children's bathroom and toilet.