The Banco Vitalicio Building (1967-1972): an Urban Landmark in the Making of Murcia City's Modern Image

Between 1967 and 1972, Antonio Escario undertook a project in Murcia of great importance to his career: a 16-floor stepped, zigzagging block owned by Banco Vitalicio. Conceived as the background of the Gran Via, it mobilizes and expands the best of the modern legacy to overcome the devastating consequences of developmentalism in the fabric of a city whose image it reconstructs and qualifies. The building, now renamed to 'Hispania', is a praiseworthy example of spatial distribution, workmanship and scenographic efficacy. Despite the interest of this episode, in which several masters of Spanish architecture took part, its peripheral geography hindered its dissemination and subsequent (re)cognition. Fifty years after its culmination, this paper provides primary sources and unpublished documentation whose analysis allows arguing the material, cultural and urban values of this timeless work.