Background
Torroella, Mario Jaime was born on March 30, 1935 in Havana, Cuba. Son of Juan and Graciela Hortensia (Martin-Rivero) Torroella. He came to the United States in 1960 as a result of the Cuban Revolution.
Both his parents were of prominent Cuban families and educated in the United States. His mother Graciela was descendant of Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, the first Governor of Cuba and her father, Antonio Martín-Rivero y Aguiar, was a Cuban minister and ambassador to the United States, Mexico, Italy and Holland. As such, he fluently spoke Spanish, English and French. His father, Pedro M. Rivero, was a Cuban Independence leader who owned an “independentista” newspaper in Havana that was banished by the Spanish government. He then relocated to Philadelphia and became connected to José Martí the two worked to organize and mobilize support for the Cuban Independence movement.
Mario's father, Juan Torroella II, is of Spanish and Irish ancestry. His mother was an Irish woman (Rooney) who and governess of the children of the influential Cuban businessman Vicente Martínez-Ybor. As governess, or "institutriz," she cared for Martínez-Ybor’s children in his New York City residences, which is where she became employed after arriving in the United States from Ireland. Juan Torroella I, from Catalonia, was a close friend of Martínez-Ybor and met Ms. Rooney in Tampa. They later married and resettled in Havana. Their child Juan Torroella II (Juan de las Marias Torroella y Rooney) was sent to The United States by Juan Torroella I to receive his education and graduated from Cornell University, then returned to Cuba as an arquitecto contratista.
Mario himself was also educated in the United States, along with this brothers Juan III (the eldest) and Luis. The three attended Maine's Hebron Academy. Luis and Mario, the youngest, then went on to attend and graduate from in Dartmouth studying economics and architecture, respectively. There Mario became inspired by the writings of Le Corbusier, namely "When the Cathedrals Were White" (1964), and Sigfried Giedion, who lectured in architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (HGSD), where Mario then enrolled for his graduate studies.
However, with the arrival of the Cuban Revolution Mario Torroella’s opted to return to Cuba to work for the new revolutionary government with the hope of realizing a better society than had been in place under the Batista dictatorship. As such, he worked as an architect in the Ministry of Public Works, working closely under the architect Frank Martínez in the Ministry of Public Works. Frank Martinez and his wife Cira were well-connected in Havana arts. The couple were to close to famed architect Walter Gropius and honeymooned in his Boston home. Additionally, Martínez designed the private residence of Roberto Estopiñán and his wife, renown poet reciter Carmina Benguría. Through the Martínezes Torroella met leading Cuban artists René Portocarrero, Eduardo Abela, Raul Milián, Hugo Consuegra, Estopiñán among others. He also worked with Frank Martinez on several ultimately unrealized projects such as the National Aquarium and rural public housing for agricultural workers.
In the meantime, his brother Luis was also working for the revolutionary government as an economist. He had previously fought against Batista as in the 26th of July Movement. Though only 27, he was tapped to head the Ministry of Finance’s table of economists. As Fidel Castro's rule became increasingly brutal and influenced by Communist doctrine, Mario, Luis, as well as Frank and Cira Martínez joined covert cells of the counterrevolution. Each would eventually also resign from their posts. Cira was arrested twice and was able to explain her circumstances enough to arrange her release on both occasions. Mario had also been suspected by government authorities of counter revolutionary activities and, amidst increasingly brutal crackdowns on dissent, he Cuba permanently in 1960 and re-enrolled in the Harvard Graduate School of Design to complete his studies there.
Likewise, his brother Luis arranged to send his daughter and American wife to the United States while he remained in Cuba to coordinate with the Martínez's. Luis Torroella was eventually captured by Castro’s forces in Santiago de Cuba, after which he imprisoned for one year in Havana’s La Cabaña before being sent back to Santiago for his execution in October 1962, an event that would haunt Mario for the duration of his life.
While back at the HGSD, Torroella became acquainted with its dean Josep Lluís Sert. They bonded over their Cuban and Catalonian heritage (Sert's grandmother was Cuban) as well as their admiration for Le Corbusier and the arts. Sert, who succeeded Walter Gropius in the role of HGSD dean, was an influential figure who was responsible for establishing the urban design courses in Harvard and achieved international fame for co-designing the Spanish Republic's pavilion in the 1937 Paris World Fair. As Sert was someone very closely involved with the art of the Twentieth Century, Spain's pavilion was renown for the creation and display of Pablo Picasso's defining Guernica painting as well as Joan Miro's El Segador and Alexander Calder's The Mercury Fountain. Picasso, Miro, and Calder were each lifelong friends of Sert.
Torroella's mentorship under Sert proved to be highly formative in his career as Sert financed his student debt and employed Torroella in his Cambridge, Massachusetts firm after he graduated in 1962. While employed with Sert, Torroella met his future wife, Isabelle Berangere Gambier, then studying fashion. While Torroella had internally displaced persons protection, Berangere-Gambier, a French citizen, did not and was required to return to France. The two maintained correspondence as well as occasional visits until marrying in 1971 while she was a fashion designer for Christian Dior. Torroella at this point had attained US citizenship, and as a result of their marriage he gained dual citizenship with the United States and France.
Torroella remained in Sert's firm through the early 1960s until deciding to pursue other opportunities, eventually co-founding HMFH Architect. When he submitted his resignation to Sert he gifted him one of his early original framed works at his residence in the presence of Alexander Calder.
Another long-term influence in Torroella's career would be Cira Martinez (now Porta, following her divorce). Cira remained active in Cuban exile art community after relocating to Miami and maintained close ties with other prominent Cuban artists such as Rafael Soriano, Cundo Bermúdez, and Roberto Estopiñán. She also continued to connect Torroella to high-profile collectors and dealers in the South Florida area.
Torroella served as a principal and Director of Design for HMFH Architects until his retirement at the age of 81. Over the course of his career he would win multiple architecture awards and frequently exhibit his artwork internationally both individually and in group settings. His is a Modernist architect and Expressionist artist. His art draws influence from Joan Miro and traditional African art.
Torroella's work is now included in several prominent private art collections including those of Josep Lluís Sert, Cira Porta, and Marta Permuy and others throughout the US, Puerto Rico, France, Great Britain, Spain, Chile, Switzerland, Japan and Taiwan.