Valencian architectural heritage is framed by architects who leave their fingerprint on the region, an exploration that traces the craft from the late 18th to the mid-20th century. The work, produced by two practitioners, maps the contributions across the Valencian Community and its three regional colleges, with involvement from a major Fine Arts academy. The publication only recently reached readers, finally taking shape after widespread pandemic-related restrictions that influenced how the material could be developed and presented. In the Alicante area, collaborators included Santiago Varela, Andrés Martínez Medina, Justo Oliva, Gaspar Jaén, Vicente Vidal and Juan Calduch.
The authors lay out the book’s purpose in the preface: to spotlight architects who have left a lasting imprint on the city and, more broadly, to emphasize their role within society. The volume builds on a historical arc that begins in the Enlightenment era, guided by standards common to the San Carlos and San Fernando Arts Academies. A century later, architectural education gained a more technical edge with the founding of university schools of architecture in Madrid and Barcelona, accompanied by shifts in professional practice. The final section describes the association active from 1931 to 1971, culminating in the Valencia School of Architecture’s introduction.
Three hundred nineteen pages divide into several sections. The most substantial is a roster of 154 architects highlighted in reviews who left a mark. They hail from the 72 provincial districts of Valencia; forty-one belong to Alicante, twenty-one to Castellón, and a portion remains regional in scope.
The Alicante cohort of forty-one professionals, identified by the authors as the Alcoy core, formed through activity in Alcoy and its surrounding area. This group is notable for decades of sustained demand and a strong inventive drive. Their era brought innovations from industrial design to modern architectural forms, bridging late 19th century modernism with earlier traditions. Alcoy is recognized for pioneering the first Geometric Alignment Plan, which sparked a series of Expansion Plans led by Jorge Gisbert in 1849. The second wave of plans, drawn in 1853 by Vicente Montero de Espinosa, further shaped the region’s urban fabric.
A large share of the professionals born in the province achieved recognition within their social milieu and left lasting works that transcended evolving stylistic currents. Some embraced academic and conservative sensibilities, while others pursued avant-garde approaches characteristic of the 1930s and reinforced by subsequent architectural renewal in the 1960s. In addition to those already noted, names such as Jover and Gadea, Miguel Francia, Jose Guardiola Picó, Jose Cascant, Chápuli Guardiola, and José Ramón Mas y Font stand out. The Cort Botí brothers, a pioneer in urbanism, also contributed, alongside César who worked in Madrid, and Francisco Munoz; Antonio Serrano Peral and Serrano Bru; Juan Vidal Ramos and Vicente Valls Gadea; Timoteo Briet and Francisco Carbonell Abad, with Juan Antonio Garcia Solera; and Jose Gonzalez Altes, among others who practiced locally and left a lasting mark on architecture and society, sometimes reaching beyond regional borders.
Many architects born in the region pursued studies elsewhere. Ignacio Haan entered San Fernando, receiving training in Toledo and practicing within the Archdiocese’s vast networks. Miguel Abad Miró, a collaborator with Miguel López, refined his craft in Seville, later directing a school and serving as dean of the Colegio de Andalucía Occidental y Badajoz. The Díanense José Luis Romany Aranda is another example, whose work gained renown in Madrid.
Movement across provinces left a durable impact through various projects. Juan Guardiola Gaya produced a broad and renowned body of work across the country. José Luis Fernández del Amo advanced projects through the Colonization Institute, renewing constructions with a sense of life that harmonized with changing urban realities such as San Isidro and El Realengo in Vega Baja. From Barcelona came Ricardo Bofill and Taller de Arquitectura, who envisioned a city in space with La Manzanera de Calpe taking shape. Oriol Bohigas contributed the Levante coast promenade in Benidorm and a Partial plan in Muchamiel, cementing a wider influence on the region’s architectural trajectory.