"De donde fue" instead of "De donde estaba"

Question

In Nicaragua, addresses are usually given as directions from a landmark, for example:

From the stadium, go 5 blocks south, then 3 blocks east

Sometimes the landmark is a place that used to be there, and they say "de donde fue", for example:

De donde fue el estadio, 3 cuadras al sur, 2 al oeste

There's even an official abbreviation for that, DDF. It always confused me though why it's "de donde fue". That seems like the wrong verb (shouldn't estar be used for location?) and the wrong tense (shouldn't the imperfect be used for where something "used to be"?). Why is it "de donde fue" instead of "de donde estaba"?

Edit: And just to clarify, the phrase is used to refer to something that no longer exists. I believe a lot of the standard landmarks used in directions were destroyed in a major earthquake, but are still used as points of reference.

Answer 1

To be honest I never thought about it. It has been so natural to be saying "de donde fue"...our population has been saying that for decades. We had a big major earthquake in 1972 that destroy most of our city. So people started to have those type of references. To complicate more the things we do not have street names which can be very confused. We use reference points like known buildings..or even famous building that might not even being there anymore. It is ok for Nicaraguans. But for tourist might be a pain. Here it is a link that explain this better than me in case you are curious.

Nicaragua Address system

Answer 2

I'm not from Nicaragua, but "De donde fue" sounds like something unique to Nicaragua. Here in Chile, we say "De aquí, 3 cuadras hacia ..." and "Desde el estadio, 3 cuadras hacia..."

UPDATE

If you're refering to something that was there but does not longer exists, that's more rare, but you could expres it as Donde estaba el estadio, 3 cuadras hacia ...

That's if the building itself It's not there. If it has only changed name or bussiness, you could prepend Ex to the past reference: Imagine something that was the "Cafetería El Caballo" and was very well known, but now It's "Librería la vaca" then you could say Desde la Ex Cafetería, 3 cuadras hacia ... This only works when the past reference is VERY well known.

Answer 3

I would say is a slang from Nicaragua, I would describe that usage as a solecism , it happen with every language and in every country, as a matter of fact the usage of "de donde estaba" doesn't seem quite correct either UNLESS the place you are referring is not there anymore.