The other Coderch in la Barceloneta: ’Grupo Almirante Cervera’ Fishermen’s block, 1950-1960

Abstract

The building “Grupo Almirante Cervera”, also known as ‘Bloc de Pescadors’ or ‘Dwellings for the workers’ cooperative La Maquinista’ is a residential block designed by José Antonio Coderch together with his partner Manuel Valls and is located in la Barceloneta. It was promoted by the
Instituto Social de la Marina (Social Institute of the Navy) during the 1950s and it is a singular social housing project in Barcelona in relation to its architectural context. The building program consisted of 140 dwellings and 28 stores for fishermen and also offered a public space in the highly crowded neighborhood as a semi-open square accessible from el Carrer de la Maquinista.
However, the building has until recently been eclipsed by the one located just 600 meters away, the most acknowledged residential building on paseo Juan de Borbón. The block, despite its size and significance, was “doomed” even by its author, since at a certain point Coderch abandoned
the direction of work. As a result, there are many information and documentation gaps related to the building, thus contributing to its scarce recognition. This article aims, therefore, to recover the memory of the building by trying to understand it in its context and reconstructing, through all available primary sources, the ‘design process’. Through this critical interpretation, the objective
is to recognize the building as a work to be taken into account within the work of Coderch, not only for its architectural quality, but also for its ability to establish links with both the national and international architectural contexts of its time.