Carbonell House (Alicante)

Built in 1925 by Juan Vidal Ramos, a famous Alicante architect, Carbonell House was the private residence of Enrique Carbonell, a prosperous textile businessman. It is a construction that exemplifies the Valencian historicist and modernist style.

The formidable building, whose construction lasted five years, has four houses on each floor, each with its respective dining room, living room, office, three main bedrooms and another for service, toilet, kitchen, reception and lobby.

Among the aspects of its distribution, the toilets conveniently located on the rear façade stand out, while the main rooms are located on the main façade. The dining room and living room are located with two separate viewpoints each. In total, it has six floors of housing, with the attic as the top floor.

The architectural composition of its façade is conventional, with equal distribution, group hierarchy and symmetry. The internal decoration shows the notable influence of the ornate French style of the time, as it is full of classical elements.

Vidal used a remarkable variety of materials and construction elements such as sandstone for the plinth, marble for the hallways, glass and iron for the locks and canopies, and simulated slate for the roofs. The exterior spaces, where the cores of attached stairs and the light wells are located, were organized into two cores, one main and one secondary, so that there could be an independent entrance to the services.

Currently, Carbonell House has offices and commercial premises on the mezzanine and ground floor, while the rest of the floors are intended for rental housing. However, the beauty and brilliance of its past remain intact.