Casa Arróspide, Art Nouveau building in Indautxu, Bilbao, Spain
Casa Arróspide is an Art Nouveau building in Bilbao's Indautxu district featuring elaborate facade details and palm trees on its exterior. The structure stands at the corner of Simón Bolívar and Aureliano Valle streets and currently contains residential apartments and offices with a tea house on the ground floor.
The building was completed in 1910 under architect Leonardo Rucabado and stands as an example of the Art Nouveau movement of that era. It later served as headquarters for the University of Bilbao's rectorate, marking an important moment in the city's academic history.
The building reflects how wealth and new design tastes shaped the neighborhood in the early 1900s through its ornamental features. The palm trees framing its exterior were once a common sight throughout the district and remain a distinctive sight today.
The building is freely visible from the outside and easy to view on foot from the street corners. The tea house on the ground floor provides an informal way to spend time near the structure if you wish to linger in the area.
The palm trees surrounding the building represent an unusual botanical choice for Bilbao's climate and reflect southern European architectural influences that shaped elite neighborhoods. This choice signaled cosmopolitan taste among wealthy residents of the early 1900s.
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