The Portal de la Pau building will recover its original splendor, the one it looked like when it was inaugurated in 1907 as a maritime station on the ground floor for passengers traveling to the Balearic Islands and an imposing restaurant on the main floor, the Mundial Palace. Closed since 2008, and after a first failed rehabilitation attempt in 2017, the works finally started a few weeks ago. The rehabilitation will be done in two phases: the exterior will be ready next August so that the building can shine while the Copa del América is being held. In November the crane will be re-assembled to tackle the work inside and finish the last façade and be able to open in 2025.
The original glamor was transformed into offices when in 1918, after the terminal concession expired, the building became the headquarters of the port, a function it maintained until 2008, when the Port Authority moved to the World Trade Center. The forceful intervention that was made to adapt the space, raising partitions and false ceilings to gain more floors was one of the reasons that forced the first rehabilitation project to stop.
The current proposal includes a port outreach center on the ground floor – which has an independent project – with a shop on the rear façade and a bar on the Moll de la Fusta façade. The noble floor will house a formal office for the port presidency and the large multipurpose room, of about 300 square meters, which was originally the restaurant. On the second floor the original dome will once again shine.
“The recovery of Port Vell makes no sense without this building, which has had a very important role for the city and which is a fundamental piece due to its location, between the Rambla and the Moll of Barcelona and Spain,” insisted yesterday the president of the port, Lluís Salvadó when showing the project to the members of the board of directors.
At the end of next July, the crane and scaffolding will be removed from the main façade, at the Portal de la Pau and from the two side façades so that in August, September and October, while the America’s Cup regattas are being held, this space , which will be a main stage of the event, show its best side. “The now cream-colored façade will recover its original tone, stone gray, and all the decorative and sculptural elements will be rehabilitated,” explains the architect in charge of the project, Jordi Julián.
The origin of the building dates back to 1902, when the project was commissioned. It began construction in 1903 and was inaugurated in June 1907. With an eclectic style and a French air due to the zinc elements on the balconies and the four towers, the building was attached, on the back, to some port warehouses. During the Copa del América, this façade will be covered with a tarp, “which could be a communicative element,” said Salvadó. It will be temporary. On this façade, next to the Moll de la Fusta, where the store that will operate at the exit from the outreach center will be located, the project foresees a double glass façade and a new element, “a box also made of glass that will not touch the facade,” Julián added.
The main entrance will give way to a lobby and the elevators and stairs to access the first and second floors will be located in the two towers. On the first floor, in addition to the formal office and a meeting room with a kitchen, the focus will be on the large room, with a height of eleven meters. The second floor, with views over the entire port, will be rehabilitated “as a space to receive visitors,” said Julián.
The works are expected to last 18 months and the building, after the break of the America’s Cup, can open to the public in 2025, after 17 years of closure. In 2010, work began on a first project, which was awarded in 2017 and in which 1.9 million were invested. “But then, given the state of the building, it was agreed to do a new project,” Julián explained.
