Architecture of Bilbao

The changes in Bilbao’s architecture and urbanism have been important since the end of the 19th century at the beginning of the 21st century, converting a postindustrial city into a city of services 1 with a marked cultural component, and with architectural works of international significance such as the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao of Frank Gehry, located on the left bank of the river Nervion, the Metro de Bilbao, designed by Norman Foster, the Iberdrola Tower by Cesar Pelli and Zubizuri, a footbridgeon the river, by Santiago Calatrava.

The Plan of Ensanche of 1876 was made on the left bank of the estuary of Bilbao, and developed as a checkerboard around an elliptical square from which eight radial streets depart. The growth of the city meant that in a few decades this expansion, of 158 hectares, was insufficient.

Architectural styles

Eclecticism (1876-1900)
The eclecticism in the architecture of Bilbao predominates between 1850 and 1899. Divided into two periods, with a phase of experimentation, the Elizabethan, from 1850 to 1868, and reaches its maturity, with the alfonsino, from 1868 to 1899, especially once approved the plan of the Ensanche de Bilbao in 1876.

Among the notable architects who apply eclecticism in their works in Bilbao is Joaquín Rucoba and Severino Achúcarro, who also worked with modernism.

The Eclecticism is divided into two periods: the Elizabethan, from 1850 to 1868, and the Alfonsino, from 1868 to 1899. Among the architects who apply Eclecticism in their works in Bilbao is Severino Achúcarro.

Examples of buildings
Arriaga Theater (1886-1890) – architect: Joaquín Rucoba
Chávarri Palace (1889) – neoflamenco style – architect: Paul Hankar
Ceres (flour mill) (1899-1900) – Engineer: Ramon Grotta and architect (there is disagreement about): Enrique Epalza or Federico de Ugalde

Modernism (1900-1915)
The regionalism in the architecture of Bilbao, style that predominates in the new construction made in the city between approximately 1900 and 1930, is modeled on the Cantabrian architecture of the Renaissance and the Baroque, and especially the mountain regionalism developed by Leonardo Rucabado, whose references The caserío and the Baroque palace are the most direct, and it is developed together with the neo-Basque style.

The art deco in the architecture of Bilbao was important between approximately 1925 and 1930. The practical repercussions of the Exhibition of Decorative Arts of 1925 in Paris were almost immediate, although the very term ” Art Deco ” would not be coined until the celebration of the retrospective, Les Années ’25, the following year at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

Among the architects who projected this style in Bilbao, especially those of the generation of 17, were Pedro Ispizua, Ricardo de Bastida, Tomás Bilbao.

Among the architects who apply modernism in their works in Bilbao are Ricardo de Bastida, Mario Camiña, Severino Achúcarro, Pedro Guimón, Leonardo Rucabado and Ismael Gorostiza.

Examples of buildings
Casa Montero (1901) – art nouveau style – architect: Jean Batiste Darroquy
Campos Elíseos Theater (1902) – art nouveau style – architect: Jean Batiste Darroquy
Alhóndiga Municipal de Vinos (1905) – Catalan style – architect: Ricardo de Bastida

Regionalism (1900-1930)
Clearly influenced by the mountain regionalism developed by Leonardo Rucabado, other architects who apply it in the city are Ricardo de Bastida, José María de Basterra, Tomás Bilbao and Manuel María de Smith.

Examples of buildings
Palace of Ibaigane (1898-1900) – neovasco style – architect: Gregorio Ibarreche
Chalet Allende (1910) – style mountain regionalism – architect: Leonardo Rucabado
Ferrocarriles Vascongadas Station (1912) – neo-vasco style – architect: Manuel María de Smith
Gran Vía, 58-60 (residential building) (1920-1922) – style mountain regionalism – architects: Ricardo de Bastida and José María de Basterra

Art Deco (1925-1930)
Among the architects who projected this style in the city were Pedro Ispizua, Ricardo de Bastida and Tomás Bilbao.

Examples of buildings
Foral Library of Bizkaia (1924) – architect: Juan Carlos Guerra
Ercilla, 22 (residential building) (1926) – architect: Ricardo de Bastida
Ercilla, 16 (residential building) (1928) – architect: Tomás Bilbao

Rationalism (1930-1936 and 1938-1949)
Rationalism in Bilbao is divided into two periods separated by the Spanish Civil War. The first, from 1931 to 1936, and the second, from 1938 to 1949.

Postwar architecture (1938-1949)
The architecture of the postwar period in Bilbao is divided between the National style and the continuity of Rationalism.

Examples of buildings
Ercilla, 43 (residential building) (1938) – Expressionist rationalist style – architect: Rafael Fontán
North Station (1941-1950) – National style – architect: Alfonso Fungairiño
Talleres Muñoz Mendizabal (1942-1946) – rationalist style – architect: Pedro Ispizua
Delegation of the State Treasury (1942-1953) – National style – architect: Antonino Zobaran

Modern Movement (1950-1975)
Latest trends (1976 onwards)
Examples of buildings
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (1992-1997) – architect: Frank Gehry
Torre Iberdrola (2007-2011) – architect: César Pelli

Other works
Banco de Vizcaya Tower (1969) – architects: Enrique Casanueva, Jaime Torres and José María Chapa
Metro de Bilbao (1988-1995), by Norman Foster
Zubizuri (1997), pedestrian bridge of Santiago Calatrava.
Euskalduna Palace (1999) – architects: Federico Soriano and Dolores Palacios

Urbanism
A first widening plan was entrusted to the engineer Amado Lázaro in 1861, but this project, of 229 hectares, was ruled out as “utopian and excessive” and “ambitious and unrealizable” and it was not until 1873 that a plan new developed by the architect Severino Achúcarro and the engineers Ernesto de Hoffmeyer and Pablo Alzola, who would later become mayor of the city.

The Bilbao extension was made on the left bank of the estuary, and develops like a checkerboard around an elliptical square from which eight radial streets divide, a configuration influenced by the Plaza de L’Étoile in Paris. The growth of the city meant that in a few decades the expansion, of 158 hectares, was insufficient, since, in 1893, the city had a population of 41,734, with an estimate of an increase to 51,041 for 1905. However, in one year the number of inhabitants of Bilbao had grown to 61,070, exceeding forecasts of 51,041 for 1905.

Important aspects include the Gran Vía, with a width of 50 meters and a length of 1.5 kilometers, with numerous shops, public institutions and banks.

In 1898, the municipal architect Enrique Epalza presented a first plan for the extension of the extension, also rejected, 3 which extended to the Alameda de San Mamés and the Cantalojas to Olabeaga railway line.

At the beginning of the 21st century a series of important urban works was undertaken, such as those of Miribilla, Abandoibarra, Puerta Arata Isozaki.

The Ensanche de Achúcarro, Alzola and Hoffmeyer presents an interesting plot, with an elliptical-shaped square, the Federico Moyúa square, as a geographical center, crossed by a 30-meter-wide avenue, the Gran Vía de Don Diego López de Haro, and another three smaller streets (Ercilla, Recalde and Elcano), which define an axis of symmetry for the city plan. The apples have bevelled the four corners, as in the block of Barcelona designed by Ildefonso Cerdá.

The construction of the Ensanche de Abando was a process that lasted for decades. With its construction, Bilbao definitely jumped to the left bank of the estuary and developed what is currently considered the center of the city.

New expansion plan
But the widening of 1876 soon became too small and already in 1896 the city council of Bilbao entrusted the municipal architect Enrique Epalza with a new plan for its extension. 1 The study of Epalza, that finally did not see the light, consisted of defining the free lands that still remained in Abando and that the project of Achúcarro, Alzola and Hoffmeyer did not contemplate. Epalza with his study founded the foundations so that Federico de Ugalde triumphed in the contest of ideas for the extension of the widening, summoned by the city council of the town in 1904.

Source from Wikipedia