THE BOULEVARD

The Boulevard is the dividing line between the Old Town (the original town of San Sebastián) and Cortázar urban development (the modern San Sebastián).

It is a considerably extensive urban area, which starts with the Kursaal Bridge at one end, and finishes with the City Hall at the other.

This avenue of irregular, longitudinal design widens slightly as it approaches the Plaza Vieja, which also existed before the demolition of the walls. There is also an Art Nouveau bandstand in this avenue built by the engineer Eiffel, and further up, at the end of it, the Victoria Eugenia Theatre; opposite the theatre, and next to the Kursaal Bridge, there is a beautiful little garden with a pond.

Concerning the City Hall, we must mention the original purpose for which it was built.

Alderdi-Eder gardens, and the City Hall in the background.

It was opened in 1887 as the local casino, its location making it, as has already been pointed out, an axis or hinge between the two different areas of the City of San Sebastián. The Old Town on the one hand, and the Cortázar urban development, on the other. It is at the end of the Boulevard, and has a fachade, nearly a hundred metres long, overlooking both La Concha promenade and the Alderdi-Eder Gardens, which were designed by Pierre Ducasse, the city garderner.

The ground floor of the City Hall is longitudinally divided into two parts; there is a main entrance on both fachades. On the fachade facing Alderdi-Eder, the central part has large windows on the ground floor surmounted by semicircular arches. The same arrangement occurs on the first floor, with the addition of wide balconies. This central section is crowned with a clock, and is separated from the wings by two slender four-storey turrets that relieve the horizontal appearance of the whole building.

The building has three storeys. Access to the ground floor, which is raised approximately a metre-and-a-half above the ground, is by a flight of steps, which leads to a great, richly decorated entrance hall, which connects with the main staircase, which has an octagonal plan. This staircase opens into the great hall, used in the past for balls and social gatherings, arranged in Corinthian manner with fluted columns and imposts and archivolts decorated in relief and arabesque.

The First World War was a golden time for the casino. At the time when French casinos were closed down, San Sebastián became the gaming centre of Europe. Tycoons, aristocrats, artists and adventurers promoted a life of glamour and luxury, both in the city and in the casino, that numbered among its devotees world-famous celebrities such as Mata-Hari, who departed San Sebastián to France where a firing squad awaited her.

Following the axis marked by the Boulevard, and walking towards La Concha, we find a building that is, and has been, a key example, not only of the architecture in San Sebastián, but of Spanish architecture in general. We are referring to the Yacht Club of San Sebastián, a modernist style building, and one of the most important works of the Spanish Gatepac group.

Built by the architects Aizpurua and Labayen in 1920, the yacht club "was designed to suit the needs of the people of that time. It would not have fitted in with the previous generation. The aims of the builders were fully achieved as regards the optimism, light, airiness and pastel colours used in the building, which convey a mood of Mediterranean light-heartedness and relaxation".

As we can read in issue 3 of the magazine "Documentos de la Actualidad Contemporánea": "The view is magnificent, the scene of the bay and the whole charm of San Sebastián is before us, enhanced by the simple forms of this building, which stands out sharply against sea and sky. The place inspires well being; nothing jars, but rather everything has a relaxing effect on the eyes and the spirit. The windows do not cramp the view, they merely frame it by following its horizontal tendency, thereby intensifying its quality. Everything is light, everything has the rationality and the exact dimensions of an ocean-liner".

The building has undergone important changes, particularly on the outside; it has a ground plan, 56 m long and 10 m wide, on the remains of the original yacht club, built of wood on strong stone walls.

The elevations of the building are very simple and clear, in keeping with the layout of a concise and perfectly articulated ground plan, which harmonises the building's octagonal parameters with curving forms.