Viviendas en Málaga | Promotora y Constructora

History

During the 18th century, in Malaga, the sea almost reached the proximities of what today is Puerta del Mar street. Today’s Alameda avenue was designed during that century, upon the sandy space resulting from the disappearance of the sea. Once the “Puerta del Mar” was demolished, with its towers and its wall, the area receives a great architectonic interest; the buildings that were to determine the architectonic style of the area were created. Two blocks of houses were built, creating what today are Panaderos street and the sidewalks of Atarazanas street..

It is within this framework, where the familia Ugarte-Barrientos, in 1776 has a palace with two floors and three facades, the main entrance facade in Puerta del Mar street and the other two facades in Alameda avenue and Panaderos street..

The main facade is made of stone, framed by two fluted columns ending in Doric capitals, which support the entablature (architrave, frieze with the Ugarte-Barrientos heraldic shield in the middle of the lintel and a projecting cornice), sustaining a very elegant balcony. The building presents an harmonic distribution of windows, an outstanding view thanks to the artistic ironworks in the balconies. With regards to the height of the building, and to the town planning, it fitted perfectly with the rest of buildings in the area, being this palace the only building, which has been preserved up to now, with the exception of the building where the “Junta de Andalucia” Government’s delegation is..

The most impressive part inside the building is its wonderful patio, located just after the entrance hall, the patio gives access to the upper floors ascending through a marble stair which is splited into two parts in the first floor, being united again to go to the next floor. The most remarkable elements in the patio are the twelve marble columns, which give a quadrangular shape to the base, and the skylight protecting it from the outside. There used to be a fountain in the middle of the patio, it disappeared as a result of several interior reforms carried out during a long period of time. The height of the ceilings is a remarkable characteristic (four and a half meters high, on the first floor), the height of the ceiling decreases on the second floor..

From the time of its construction, the building was the residential home of the Ugarte-Barrientos’ family; it was there that Mrs Josefa María Ugarte-Barrientos Méndez de Sotomayor y Casaus (1854-1891) spent her childhood. She was a poet and a playwright, with her play “The Captive”, the Cervantes’ Theatre in the capital, was opened. She obtained the Countess of Parcent title, when she married Mr Fernando José de la Cerda y Carvajal, who among other titles he was ninth Count of Parcent, first Duke of Parcent (1914) and tenth Count of Contamina..

During a later period, the building belonged to Mr Antonio María Álvarez Net, known for being a businessman during the time, and a strong promoter of a new town planning. He was also president of the Economic Society of the Country’s Friends. He obtained the building from the Ugarte-Barrientos’ family in 1865, with the goal of transforming it into a luxury hotel, something that the cosmopolitan city of Malaga was lacking at that time..

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D. Jerónimo Cuervo González was the architect responsible for designing the reformation of the palace. Among his works, we can mention the design of the Cervantes’ Theatre (1870), the reform of the St Ana del Cister Nunnery, and numerous works in the city, such as facades and buildings in squares like Constitución’s square, Uncibay’s square, and Merced’s square, (where Picasso’s house is located); in Larios street, Casas de Campo street, etc, this architect made a very active contribution to what is today the historical centre of the city..

The reform of the building for its new use, caused a radical change in the exterior of it, originally it had two floors that are transformed into four floors with the goal of meeting the height of the surrounding buildings that had been elevated. A characteristic feature of the transformation is the fact that the new floors decrease in height progressively; this can be noticed by observing the building from the outside. The beautiful stone facade is preserved, and the symmetry of the building is preserved too by a rhythmical alignment of the balconies, in the exterior and the interior of the building..

Once the remodelling was finished, around the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, the Grand Hotel du Roma, known in the city as Roma Hotel, was opened. It suffered the effects of the floods on the 23rd of September 1907, due to the overflowing of the Guadalmedina river, the so-called “riá”..

After the events of 1907, the building was let to the “Franco-Española” Society of Great Hotels, turning to be one of the hotels in the numerous list of hotels that this company had in our country. Its name was changed to Regina Hotel. A remodelling of the interior was carried out to turn it into a luxury hotel, since the city did not have any during that period; in fact it was one the first buildings to have a lift.

The Regina Hotel became the bourgeoisie’s favorite hotel at the turn of 20th century. The magnificent patio and rooms were used to celebrate numerous literary, artistic and political talks and gatherings. The hotel was during this period the best and top quality place offering lodgings to famous people who came to visit the city..

Among the famous guests lodged in the Regina Hotel, at the turn of the 20th century, was Gerald Brenan, who at the time was a young British writer, travelling around the Alpujarras in Granada and came to Malaga to have some rest..

The activity of the Regina Hotel decreases as a result of the opening of another luxury hotel in the city, the Asturias Prince Hotel (later called Miramar Hotel), and it stopped working altogether with the beginning of the Spanish Civil War..

Hotel Regina, huéspedes ilustres. Gerald Brenan

The end of the war means the beginning of a new period for the life of the building. The Álvarez family, owners of the building, make a new transformation of the interior with the goal of adapting it to a new activity, offices to let. In the 40s, the General Station of Supplies and Transports was set up in the building, this organism was in charge of dealing with the administration of the notorious rationing cards, thanks to which products to satisfy the population’s basic needs were shared out. The station offices were on the first floor, being the upper floors occupied by offices of different kinds..

The renting of offices resulted in the creation of new rooms with the goal of renting housing. From 1955, it was noticed a profound deterioration of the building, damaging its interior structure as its maintenance was totally forgotten. The deterioration reaches its climax when the patio is divided into different parts devoted to various commercial stands..

The progressive process of decay of the building from the 60s to the 80s, almost results in a declaration of ruinous condition and the consequent risk of demolition, even the disastrous condition of the pillars sustaining the skylight posed a threat, as the skylight could easily collapse upon the interior structure of the building..

It was then that Mr Francisco Porras Fontiveros began negotiations to reach an agreement with the Álvarez family’s heirs and with the tenants, to purchase the building and make it go through another restoration process to return it its previous greatness, setting up the head office for his company, EDIPSA..

The negotiation process with each of the tenants ends in 1984, and the old Ugarte-Barrientos’ family palace is closed to begin a period of reconstruction that lasted almost two years. The reopening of the building marks the beginning of a new period in its history, this time under the name of Edificio Edipsa. It is now more than two centuries old, and it allows us to contemplate one of the most beautiful buildings in the historical centre of Malaga..

Historical photos: Historical photos: Juan Temboury photographic archive. Provincial Council of Malaga.