Casa Carbonell

The Carbonell House was built in 1925. The Alicante architect J. Vidal designed what symbolizes the architecture of his first epoch in one of the greatest constructions of the beginning of the 20th century bourgeoisie. The building occupies a complete block, overlooking the sea and has a facade with a sublime quality. All thanks to an urban reorganization that was possible because the city market moved to a different place. It is built in front of the Caa Lamagniere building that Vidal himself designed in the previous decade. The distribution of Casa Carbonell is divided into two double cores of stairs that serve two houses per floor. These turn to two interior patios that give natural light to the homes described. The main façade is where the living rooms and the bedrooms are located, and the domestic rooms are located at the opposite side of the house. The composition of the main façade is symmetrical and bounded by the viewpoints at the ends, with the advanced bodies of the dining rooms located on the access gates and topped by the domes. The whole is dressed with a large cast of historicist motifs. The noble materials used (sandstone in the socle, marble in the foyer, iron and glass in locksmiths and canopies, or the simulated cover slate) and the eclectic mastery of the formal repertoire, define its image of bourgeois and cosmopolitan architecture. Even today this building captures the attention of those who come to the Explanada (promenade) of Alicante. Enrique Carbonell, who ordered and financed the construction of this building, was one of Alcoy's textile industrialists who were enriched by the First World War, due to the strong demand for textile cloths to standardize the French army. Said industrialist had the intention of spending long periods in the city of Alicante, because this climate was better for his sick daughter. It is said that on one occasion, a mishap during his trip from Alcoy to Alicante made Carbonell arrive very dirty in the capital, so, with the intention of cleaning and staying, he requested a room at the luxurious Hotel Palace. The hotel denied his entrance, because of his appearance, and they say that in revenge for the treatment received, the proud Carbonell had a building built next to the hotel but much more magnificent, eclipsing the image of the hotel that underestimated him. The same year the works were completed, Casa Carbonell was also news because a seaplane from Algiers crashed into the terrace of one of its domes, which sank a floor and cost the lives of the two crewmembers of the aircraft. Currently, this building is still one of the most striking ones in Alicante, and is photographed in a large number of tourist postcards of the city, next to the Explanada, the Port and the Castle of Santa Bárbara.