'The architect of New York' is already a prophet in his land, Valencia

Sculpture by Rafael Guastavino, installed in the Plaza de la Reina in Valencia. Circle for the Defense and Dissemination of Cultural Heritage

At a family reunion 13 years ago, an aunt of Víctor Cantero began to take out old papers, birth certificates, marriage certificates.

Among them appeared a name that immediately caught the attention of this art historian and genealogist: Rafael Guastavino.

It turned out to be a brother of his great-great-grandfather with an extraordinary life and work that, however, he did not know about.

He began to follow the trail of this master builder and builder born in Valencia in 1842 who, when he died in the American city of Asheville, was described by

as "the architect of New York".

Along the way, he met César Guardeño, art historian and president of the Circle for the Defense of Heritage and Dissemination of Cultural Heritage, who had also been interested in the figure of this architect and great salesman for some time, who patented a construction system in the United States based on the Mediterranean brick vault of all life and left its mark on a thousand buildings in the North American country, including some of the most iconic, such as the City Hall Metro station, the Grand Central Station or the Cathedral of San Juan el Divino (all of them in New York), the Boston library or the Nebraska Capitol.

Guardeño and Cantero are now organizing a Guastavino route through Valencia and previously they proposed to the City Council that it pay homage to the architect to value his figure, especially studied and recognized among architects and experts.

"In 2017, on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of his birth, I realized that he was hardly known and as an association we asked the City Council for a tribute," says the first.

"There was only one street, Arquitecto Guastavino, in El Grao, and thanks to the chronicler Almela i Vives, a little forgotten, but neither a plaque nor a bust," says Víctor, who also presented a proposal to dedicate a bust to the municipal registry. .

Both insisted over time.

The old City Hall subway station, in New York, with the vaults by Rafael Guastavino, which was inaugurated in 1904. Michael Freeman

Last week, the Councilor for Heritage and Cultural Resources, Glòria Tello, and the Councilor for Sustainable Mobility, Giuseppe Grezzi, discovered a bronze sculpture by the artist Alfredo Llorens in Plaza de la Reina, the remodeling of which will be presented this Wednesday.

A prominent place in the neighborhood of La Seu where the architect was born 180 years ago.

Both politicians praised Guastavino's work, which seems to draw an arc in the air in his sculpture.

“It is a poetic license that I have allowed myself.

The vault led him to be who he was and that is why I decided to allude to it through an essential element, the arch, which also stands out for being made of stainless steel”, explains Alfredo Llorens, who discovered the architect when Tello mentioned it to him.

Guardeño and Cantero explain on their route through Valencia what this Mediterranean brick vault consists of, "a cohesive construction that sets very quickly", and they show some examples that the architect saw during his short stay in the city, because at the age of 17 he left for Barcelona and from where, after a series of love and financial problems, he emigrated to the US at just 40 years old without having a clue of English.

There he made a fortune, along with one of his son of the same name, the result of the relationship with the maid of his Catalan family who took him in.

His cheap and fireproof construction system was very well received after the fires that had devastated several cities.

Their domes, in addition, gave packaging and a highly appreciated aesthetic dimension to the buildings.

On his route through Valencia, the vaults of the Basilica de los Desamparados, the Colegio de las Escuelas Pías, with its impressive vault partitioned with brick, or the Lonja, whose plans the architect exhibited at the 1893 Chicago Universal Exhibition, are shown. , where he reproduced the famous column hall of the monument declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

The partitioned vault of the 14th-century chapter house of the convent of Santo Domingo, former headquarters of the general captaincy, is one of the most valuable in the city.

Interior of the Las Massas theater, in Vilassar de Dalt (Barcelona), whose dome is one of the first works by Rafael Guastavino, from 1881.

“It may surprise you because it is a route without work, because he started working in Catalonia and then left.

We go through his life, the relationship he had with the carpenters, because his father was an inspector of the union, the buildings that marked him.

We value his figure, ”says Guardeño.

“We also contextualize the situation of the city without light in which he was born, which was in full boil, when the water reaches the houses of the city.

People show interest”, adds Cantero.

“Guastavino is the vault key.

From there more things arise, ”he adds.

In New York, where he participated in the construction of 360 buildings, there are several routes following the vaults of Guastavino, a surname of Italian origin.

In Catalonia, his most relevant works were the vaults of the Batlló Factory and the La Massa theatre, rehabilitated a few years ago.

His name has not ceased to arouse interest, especially in recent years.

In 2020, there was the surprising coincidence that two Spanish writers presented two novels about the architect, from very different points of view:

(Anagrama), by Andrés Barba, and

(Espasa), by Javier Moro.

helped to get to know his figure among what is called the general public

.

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