The Former Jerónimo Pereira Campos Ceramics Factory, Aveiro

The former Jerónimo Pereira Campos ceramic factory, in Aveiro

The former Jerónimo Pereira Campos ceramic factory is an imposing red building at the edge of the water, witness of the industrial past of Aveiro. The Aveiro audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this brick and tile factory founded in 1896, long the only producer of the region, whose façades, kilns and two chimneys have been preserved and renovated in the middle of a resolutely modern district.

History

The Fonte Nova district is one of the most recent zones of the city, and the modern buildings that surround it testify to it. With the exception, perhaps, of the imposing red building at the edge of the water: a former ceramic factory, founded in 1896 by Jerónimo Pereira Campos and his four sons. At its beginnings, the family was the only producer of bricks and tiles of Marseille style between Porto and Pampilhosa. In 1923 appear the first competitors, but this does not prevent the Campos from prospering: they enlarge the site with this building, raised between 1915 and 1917, and buy several factories in Viana do Castelo, in the north, and in Sintra, near Lisbon. In the 1960s, economic difficulties weaken the family business, finally bought by a bank; with the appearance of new production sites in Taboeira, the installations of Aveiro are abandoned then partly demolished. Only the façades, a few kilns and two chimneys were spared, before being restored. Today rehabilitated, this industrial vestige brings a touch of history and character to the heart of a modern district.

What to see

Here you admire an imposing red building at the edge of the water, former brick and tile factory founded in 1896 by Jerónimo Pereira Campos, long the only producer of the region; abandoned then partly demolished, it preserves its façades, a few kilns and two restored chimneys. The former factory testifies to the industrial past of Aveiro. It is a fine stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

The former Jerónimo Pereira Campos ceramic factory stands in the Fonte Nova district, at the edge of the water, in Aveiro, reachable on foot. You admire its façades and chimneys from the outside; the access to the rehabilitated spaces follows the conditions in force, which vary. You discover it during a walk.

What was the former Jerónimo Pereira Campos factory in Aveiro?

It was a ceramic factory founded in 1896 by Jerónimo Pereira Campos and his four sons, long the only producer of bricks and tiles of Marseille style between Porto and Pampilhosa; enlarged then weakened and bought in the 1960s, it was partly demolished, and only its façades, a few kilns and two chimneys subsist, today restored.