The Ford Building

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Routes · Subcategory: Rationalism route · Year: 1950 · Authors: Miguel Martín-Fernández de la Torre

This building was originally designed as a headquarters for the firm in Gran Canaria, and it certainly stands out in the urban environment, as it claims attention for its representative character, quite distinct from the surrounding buildings and taking full protagonism in its block, with a kind of aura that is transmitted all the way to the other end of the frente martítimo.

The front of the building has some large glass recesses in the centre, which are emphasised through a frame that runs along the vertical wall face broken up by horizontal balconies with tubular handrails. This is all taken up with an upper slab of stone sticking out with fits in with each of the recesses, drawing them up vertically to a more open position. This is further enhanced by the raising up of a crest or horizontal frontis, rather like a turret on the flat roof, which is emphasised by the shadow cast by the cornice.

This frontal element that emerges from the glass recesses would hint at a classic composition that might have been able to stretch all along the building, yet this is cut short on the façade itself by treating each corner in a different way, one of them is slightly rounded, dragging with it the horizontal cadence of the horizontal recesses emerging from one of the side façades, a recess that also sticks out to the main façade, in a rounded fashion, forcing the glass in the guillotine windows to bend, to adapt properly to the roundness of the corner. On the other side, another element captures the attention, namely the stairway that protrudes sharply so that the landings make up a vertical piece in the shape of a tower on which the letters of the company appear from top to bottom.

The rectangular canopy separates the glass basement from the rest of it, which is more sturdy, shaping the entrance area of Ford building like a large display window out to the city, with the different models of cars that stand out in the showroom. This canopy was drafted and built at the same time as the rest of the building with access for fuel supplies, as an entrance lobby or foyer, with another smaller one added later on which connects up to the roadside, but which perhaps spoils the appearance of this representative building, although the building itself is in fine condition.

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