The Provincial Palace of Alicante (Palacio Provincial de Alicante) is a neoclassical building located on Avenida de la Estación in the city of Alicante, Spain. It is the headquarters of the Provincial Council of Alicante.
History
Construction began in 1928 and was completed in 1931. Niceto Alcalá Zamora, the president of the Republic at that time, inaugurated the palace on January 17, 1932 as the headquarters of the Diputación de Alicante.
Juan Vidal Ramos was the architect and is known for other iconic buildings of Alicante like the Lamaignere house (1918), the Carbonell house (1924), the Socorro house (1926) and the Provincial Hospital (1926), as well as the current Archaeological Museum of Alicante (MARQ).
Architecture
Its style is neoclassical with baroque ornamentation, and a dominant feature of symmetry which you will notice on the main facade, with a cubic tower on each side.
This building is categorized as a “masterpiece of Castilianism”. The building is surrounded by an enclosed garden where you can see monuments of famous people from the city of Alicante.
The interior of the building has offices, meeting rooms and an exhibition hall.
The Architect
Juan Vidal Ramos (Alicante, 29 August 1888 – Alicante, 21 August 1975). His parents were José Vidal Bossío and Encarnación Ramos Aguilar.
He studied at the Instituto de Alicante which was located on Calle Reyes Católicos. At that time, it was in a commercial warehouse with offices. It was here where he met future writer Gabriel Miró.
He then continued his studies at Escuela de Barcelona where he studied architecture and befriended the musician Óscar Esplá, the painter Emilio Varela and Joaquín Aracil Aznar. After graduating in 1916, he worked at the Monastery of Poblet until 1917. He then moved back to the city of Alicante, where he remained throughout his professional career, actively defining the image of Alicante through his neo-classical designs.
He worked for the city of Alicante as a municipal architect (1917-1923), provincial architect (1924-1957) and member of the Commission of Monuments and academic of San Fernando.
