Grandes Molinos Vascos, an industrial building in the neighborhood of Zorroza near Bilbao, serves as a significant piece of industrial heritage. Built between 1923 and 1924 by Federico de Ugalde y Echevarría, the factory was established on the site where the Real Astillero de Zorroza stood in 1615. It was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural by the government in 2009 and remains in a state of abandonment.
The structure features a layout with a shorter left wing and a longer right wing. The left wing houses 23 silos, with fifteen of the largest silos reaching a diameter of five meters and a capacity of 75 tons of grain. The building stands five floors high with two towers, featuring reinforced concrete walls placed in pieces and a roof made of uralite placed over a wooden deck.
Access to the building is provided through six cargo tunnels communicating with a central courtyard and five cargo piers under two awnings. Historically, a courtyard of the same length as the factory once accommodated broad-gauge and narrow-gauge trains. The facade is characterized by a profusion of windows, except for the wing corresponding to the silos, which maintains a different architectural rhythm.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
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