- They were part of the industrial area on the left bank of the Turia riverbed, between the Alameda and the Avenida de Baleares.
- They have historical, aesthetic and cultural values and are listed and declared as an Asset of Local Relevance (BRL).
- Councillor José Luis Moreno explains that the City Council has restored these symbolic elements as a preventive measure and to preserve these symbols of the city’s industrial past.
- The ornamental lighting has also been improved and informative signage has been installed.
Valencia has recovered two industrial chimneys that formed part of the city’s early 20th century manufacturing area on the left bank of the Turia riverbed, between the Alameda and Avenida de Baleares. The City Council has restored these two Assets of Local Relevance (BRL) “in order to repair the damage suffered in their more than a century of history, prevent irreversible deterioration, and preserve these historical and symbolic elements linked to the industrial past of our city”. “And it has also improved its ornamental lighting and installed informative signage”, as the councillor responsible for Culture, José Luis Moreno, explained today after seeing the result of this intervention, which has been carried out with a budget of more than 300,000 euros.
José Luis Moreno today visited these two monuments, built in their day to evacuate the steam used to generate energy by an old distillery and a defunct paper factory, and stressed that, today, “they are two elements with their own entity and expressive autonomy”. In this sense, the councillor recalled that the industrial chimneys in the mid-1980s and with the approval of the Valencian Cultural Heritage Law were considered as heritage to be preserved because of their historical, aesthetic and cultural values. Furthermore,” he added, “these two chimneys are catalogued and declared as BRL for their historical reference, environmental value and urban integration and included in the catalogue of protected assets and spaces of the General Plan of Valencia”.
Firstly, the councillor visited the chimney that belonged to the distillery of the Unión Alcoholera Española, which forms part of a set of two belonging to the aforementioned industry and built in the 1920s-1930s, in the central gardens of Paseo de la Alameda, at the height of Gulliver Park. “The work on this BRL, which was carried out in 5 months, has reinforced its structure and has allowed it to recover its original appearance, as the improper elements that had been added in recent decades have been eliminated”. “In this action, the bricks have also been restored, which have recovered their original characteristic chromatism, and the causes of their pathology have also been intervened to ensure the good condition of the element for a long period of time”, the councillor detailed.
José Luis Moreno then visited the helicoidal chimney of the old Layana paper factory located in Octavio Vicent (sculptor) street in the Penyarroja neighbourhood. “In this case, the restoration work has taken six months and has fulfilled the objectives set out in the project, which were to preserve the values of this chimney as a heritage asset and to carry out preventive conservation work as well as curative work”, added the councillor after clarifying that this chimney dates from 1903, is 38 metres high and was designed by its owner, Luis Layana Alsina, as indicated on its commemorative plaque.
“Both restoration processes have been delicate and careful”, highlighted the mayor, who also indicated that the projects were carried out by the architects Javier Hidalgo Mora, in the case of the Alcoholera chimney, and Raquel Giménez Ibáñez, in the case of the Layana chimney, and that the tender for these works was carried out by open procedure in two lots, one for each chimney, which were both awarded to the company specialising in this type of restoration, Alturas de la Mancha S. L, for an amount of 148,466.72 euros (including VAT) for the North Alcoholera chimney and 178,696.90 euros (including VAT) for the Layana industrial chimney.