Casa Carbonell

The Casa Carbonell, in Alicante

The Casa Carbonell is the most emblematic building of the Explanada de España, a sumptuous private mansion of the 1920s erected facing the sea. The Alicante audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this palace with its assumed exuberance, symbol of the enrichment of the textile manufacturers of the region during the First World War, and the delightful legend that surrounds its construction.

The palace of the textile manufacturer

This impressive building, so symbolic of the Explanada de España, is known by the name of Casa Carbonell. It is a private mansion built in the 1920s by Juan Vidal Ramos, to whom a great part of the architectural heritage of the region of Alicante is owed. The palace was intended for a rich cloth manufacturer by the name of Enrique Carbonell. Its exuberance symbolises the incredible enrichment that the textile manufacturers of the region knew during the First World War. The legend tells that in 1918, Enrique Carbonell Antolí, a textile businessman come from the town of Alcoy, was passing through Alicante, where he intended to settle, because his daughter was ill and the doctors had advised him the climate of this seaside town. Following an incident that supposedly soiled all his clothes, he went to the Palas hotel to be able to wash, but the manager refused him access, judging him by his appearance. It is, it is said, to avenge himself for this treatment that he supposedly bought the plots that were freeing up nearby, on the former market, in order to build there a building higher and finer still than the hotel that had rebuffed him. True or not, this anecdote suits marvellously the proud and ornate silhouette of the building, become one of the postcard images of Alicante. A flamboyant private mansion and a symbol of an era, the Casa Carbonell is a fine stop of the discovery of Alicante.

What to see

Here you admire the most emblematic building of the Explanada de España, a sumptuous private mansion built in the 1920s by the architect Juan Vidal Ramos for the rich cloth manufacturer Enrique Carbonell; its exuberance symbolises the enrichment of the textile industrialists during the First World War, and a delightful legend tells that it was built out of revenge against a neighbouring hotel. The Casa Carbonell is a postcard of Alicante. It is a fine stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

The Casa Carbonell stands on the Explanada de España, facing the marina of Alicante, reachable on foot. It is a private residential building whose façade you admire above all from the promenade. You discover it during a stroll along the Explanada.

Why was the Casa Carbonell built in Alicante?

For the rich cloth manufacturer Enrique Carbonell, in the 1920s, by the architect Juan Vidal Ramos; its exuberance symbolises the enrichment of the textile industrialists during the First World War, and the legend tells that he supposedly built it out of revenge, to surpass the neighbouring hotel whose manager had one day refused him access.

Where is the Casa Carbonell in Alicante?

On the Explanada de España, facing the marina of Alicante, in Spain.