Vertical urbanism
Introduction
The Las Torres Building is a skyscraper and pioneering building of vertical urbanism in the Spanish city of Pontevedra.
The building, initially known as the Osorio Building, marked a before and after in the urban architecture of Pontevedra.[2] It is the first skyscraper in the city, its tallest building and an emblem of modernity, growth and constructive ambition in the 1960s.[1][3].
Location
The Las Torres Building is located at number 14 García Camba Street, in the Ensanche of the capital of Pontevedra. It is located on the corner of Andrés Muruais street and stands at the end of Daniel de la Sota street.
Origin of the name
The Las Torres de Pontevedra building receives that name due to its exceptional height for the time and the fact that it was the first skyscraper in the city. Although it was originally known as the Osorio Building, by its developer, its imposing verticality made the citizens popularly begin to call it "The Towers", in reference to its numerous heights, which made it stand out clearly from the rest of the urban environment.
History
The history of the Las Torres Building began on November 18, 1959, when Antonio Osorio Rodríguez, a self-made businessman from Orense, acquired through public auction a 284-square-meter plot located at the intersection of García Camba and Andrés Muruais streets, in the heart of Pontevedra. For said land he paid 650,000 pesetas, a considerable sum for the time, which anticipated the execution of a large-scale construction.[4].
The process of preparing the land began in September 1960 with the removal of the site, thus marking the effective start of the works. The building was conceived from the first moment as a unique construction, both for its strategic location and its architectural approach. The original design contemplated a seven-story structure on a commercial ground floor; However, the urban dynamism of a city in full transformation soon motivated the expansion of the project.[4].
In January 1962, with the work already underway, the Pontevedra City Council authorized a first modification that raised the building to twelve floors. Just three months later, a new permit was granted that allowed the final fourteen floors for housing to be reached. These expansions were part of the municipal policy of modernization of the urban environment, which sought to adapt the city to new times and the architectural dynamics that were already manifested in other Galician capitals.[4].