The piece of the month of April 2010

EUGENIO ARRAIZA. "project OF CITY COUNCIL AND place MUNICIPAL FOR PAMPLONA" (1945)
 

José Javier Azanza López
Chair of Navarrese Heritage and Art
 

Since the 1930s, successive municipal corporations had been considering the need to enlarge the Pamplona City Hall or to erect a new building, given that the one erected in the mid-18th century was insufficient to accommodate office and representation services with a minimum of comfort. The reform of the Consistory was not proposed in isolation, but would be integrated into a broader project reorganization of urban planning in this area of the city to improve communications and provide greater amplitude to its streets, whose narrowness hindered the transit of pedestrians and vehicles.

In the complex process that developed in the following years and that culminated with the approval of the definitive project signed in Madrid in June 1951 by the brothers José María and Francisco Javier Yárnoz Orcoyen (project that contemplated the demolition of the 18th century building, respecting only its façade, and the construction of a new one with an extension towards place de Santo Domingo), numerous proposals followed one another, from those that advocated the transfer of the council building to another site different from the one it occupied, to those that advocated respecting its location and taking advantage of the adjoining buildings to proceed with its extension. This interesting page of the architecture and urban planning of 20th century Pamplona features architects such as Víctor Eusa, Francisco Garraus, Luis Cabrera Sánchez from Madrid, Eduardo Escudero Morcillo from Extremadura, and Antonio Cámara Niño from Aragón; and also Eugenio Arraiza, whose project for the reform of the Pamplona City Hall, had it been successful, would have completely changed the image of this part of the city.

Moved by the affection he professed for his native city, the Pamplona councilman and architect Eugenio Arraiza Vilella (1908-1968) drew up a project of City Hall and place Municipal for Pamplona, signed on June 15, 1945, in which he addressed the problem of the new Municipal House. In the report of the same one, Arraiza collected in the first place a series of considerations about its necessity and location. He had no doubt about the need to urgently undertake a project reform of the Casa del Regimiento, due to the increase of the population that forced to a greater issue of services, and the deficiency of the municipal facilities, even in the offices and rooms of the noble or representative part; and there was no room for discussion regarding the location, as he was in favor of maintaining the current building and undertaking an extension of the same in the surrounding land, thus departing from the proposal of a group of councilors to build a new building on the site resulting from the purchase or expropriation of the house nº 11 of Paseo de Sarasate, corresponding to the old Casa de los Baños, taking, if necessary, part or all of the old place del Vínculo (at that time of August 22nd). He used in his speech of reasons of patrimonial character, based on the respect and conservation of the bequest received from our elders, especially when it was the house of all the citizens; and invoked in turn the need to preserve the identity features of the city that, with the modern appearance of the buildings of the Ensanche, was in danger of losing character and personality, acquiring an anodyne tone. To all this were added historical-symbolic motivations, since when in the middle of the 18th century the Municipal Corporation was faced with a similar dilemma, it did not consider any other possibility than that of conserving the same location occupied by the previous building, a faithful reflection of the esteem for the place indicated in the Privilege of the Union; and Pamplona was also one of the few examples in which there had never been another location for the City Hall of the city. 

Having clarified the points concerning need and location, Arraiza began his project with a historical introduction in which he synthetically reviewed the typological and urban evolution of the council houses, from the humble medieval buildings -often borrowed-, to the harmonious ensembles in which the City Hall presides -or did at the time- a first-class space, among which he cited Madrid, Salamanca, San Sebastian and Vitoria as representative examples. The idea of a uniform and closed ensemble that links the City Hall with its immediate urban surroundings is fundamental in the vision of the architect from Pamplona, given that his project for Pamplona revolved around it. It preserved the current historic site and respected the existing building, accompanying it with other buildings that would enhance its value. Based on the above premises, his proposal contemplated the purchase or expropriation of the houses that remained on both sides of the building at place Consistorial, in order to undertake an in-depth reform of this urban area that would make it possible to configure a unitary ensemble in the tradition of the Spanish place associated with the municipal building, always within the limited possibilities offered by the Pamplona street map. This place would become a kind of public hall of the city that provided the appropriate framework for major celebrations, whether they were those that marked the annual calendar - Corpus Christi, San Fermin festivities - or those of an exceptional nature in the form of illustrious visits or historical events.

An important chapter was the distribution of the municipal buildings. The current City Hall, which would become the representative element of the whole complex, would be reserved only for the noble part, housing the meeting room, the reception and commission rooms, and the mayor's and mayoral offices, as well as the secretary's; at final, "everything involving ornamentation, reception, positions of honor and high management", Arraiza concludes in this regard. Perhaps the Municipal Museum could also be installed here. Flanking this main body on both sides would be two adjoining buildings that, in addition to spatially closing the place, would house the public and technical offices, as well as the administrative services and the urban and rural guard corps, always seeking the functionality of each of these areas. However, in order to facilitate communications between the different services, overpasses were created that, in addition to fulfilling this utilitarian function, closed the place , giving it its characteristic secluded atmosphere. Access to the building would take place through semicircular arches open at the bottom, like the characteristic arcades of the main squares, which allowed communication with the streets of Santo Domingo and Bajada de Carnicerías; above these would rise, coinciding in height with the third level of the main façade, a body open to a balcony. 

The facades of the new buildings, which would face the place Consistorial and the streets Carnicerías, Santo Domingo and Mercaderes, resolved their elevations in a lower linteled level and two upper heights, maintaining unity with the baroque language of the consistorial facade. The so-called Torre del Reloj (Clock Tower) acquired special prominence in the ensemble, erected over a spacious segmental arch that connected place with San Saturnino Street, and to which the greatest decorative richness was reserved. It is an element always linked to the council architecture, the tower or bell tower to house the bells or carillon, as well as the municipal clock, which culminated in a graceful bulbous spire decorated with pyramids, cut out plates and other ornamental motifs, which rose above the rest of the buildings and gave the whole a certain Central European character.

In the opinion of its author, project entailed unquestionable advantages, not only aesthetically, but also functionally, since the surface area destined for municipal uses doubled from the 620 square meters of the current City Hall to the 1,368 square meters of the buildings as a whole. And it meant, in turn, an improvement in urban planning, as long as the actions contemplated in it were taken to internship , one of which consisted of the reform of streets, aimed at solving the always difficult interior circulation in streets such as Santo Domingo and Bajada de Carnicerías, which would see their width increase significantly not only in the space for vehicular traffic, but with the presence of covered porches that enabled the comfortable transit of pedestrians. It was also significant in this sense the opening of a commercial passage that would put in direct contact the squares Consistorial and of the Castle, without need to make a detour by the street Chapitela or by the passageway of Machiñena; for it would be necessary to take advantage of the already existing belena between the cafes Kutz and Iruña, that were leaning out to the place of the Castle, and to extend it until the place Consistorial, previous purchase of the premises that housed the saddlery of Nagore. This covered passageway would provide protection from both rain and high temperatures, and could be used as a place for select commercial establishments, following the example of Parisian galleries and passages.

Eugenio Arraiza attached to his report and budget -which amounted to a total of six million pesetas- a reduced graphic documentation, which included a plan of this sector of the city with the proposed new buildings and their connection with the current City Hall, as well as the link between the place Consistorial and the place del Castillo through the future commercial passage; and a perspective view of the place Consistorial at a scale of 1/500 -of which a magnificent colored reproduction is also preserved at a larger size- with the surprising aspect it would show after the renovation it was to undergo.

Meeting on June 20, 1945 the Special Commission designated for the study of the extension or new installation of the municipal services, its decision was unanimous as for the convenience of taking to the internship the project of Eugenio Arraiza, so much for the beauty and urbanistic singularity that it conferred to the set of the place Consistorial, as for the solutions contributed in subject road with the extension of the streets Santo Domingo and Bajada de Carnicerías, allowing in both the circulation in double sense. Consequently, it issued a favorable opinion that was submitted to the plenary session of the Executive Council of the Municipal Corporation held on July 2, 1945, which adopted the agreement to entrust Eugenio Arraiza with the training of the preliminary project that would develop the approved idea. However, economic difficulties in carrying out the expropriation and purchase of the affected houses made the project unfeasible. And although four years later the Pamplona architect had the opportunity to develop it more extensively with a set of plans, plans and elevations, grouped under the name project of Reform and Expansion of the City Hall, Eugenio Arraiza's project became part of the "dreamed Pamplona", of that "architecture on paper" that did not manage to free itself from the plan to become a reality.

Eugenio Arraiza. project de Ayuntamiento y place Municipal para Pamplona (1945). Perspective

 

Eugenio Arraiza. project of City Hall and place Municipal for Pamplona (1945). Floor plan

bibliography
AZANZA LÓPEZ, José Javier, "Proyectos, ideas e imágenes para la nueva Casa Consistorial de Pamplona entre 1939 y 1953 (en el 250 aniversario de su fachada barroca)", Revista Príncipe de Viana, LXXI, nº 250, 2010, pp. 305-348.