Rafael Guastavino practised at a period when the terms of architecture itself were under argument.
The record lists Rafael Guastavino as Spanish architect (1842–1908).
Rafael Guastavino was born at Valencia in 1842. His recorded nationality is Spain.
Industrialisation gave architecture iron, glass and the lift, and with them the problems of the railway station, the factory and the tall city block.
He is recorded as general contractor, inventor and architect.
Among his best-known works are Casa Orlandai, Escola Industrial and Teatre La Massa. Buildings outlast their architects and usually their purposes, which is what makes the discipline unforgiving.
That the work was built in Spain shaped it: climate, materials, planning law and who holds the budget all decide what can actually be built.
Rafael Guastavino died in 1908, aged 66. The buildings remain, still in use by people who never knew the name - which is the particular afterlife architecture offers.
Achievements
- Notable work: Casa Orlandai
- Notable work: Escola Industrial
- Notable work: Teatre La Massa
- Notable work: Grand Central Terminal
