The Avenida de Blasco Ibañez is an avenue in the Spanish city of

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

named after Spanish writer and journalist

Vicente Blasco Ibáñez Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (, 29 January 1867 – 28 January 1928) was a journalist, politician and bestselling Spanish novelist in various genres whose most widespread and lasting fame in the English-speaking world is from Hollywood films that were ...

(1867 – 1928), who was originally from Valencia. The Avenida leads from the

Jardines del Real __NOTOC__ Jardines or Jardine's may refer to: Places * Jardines (Tren Urbano station), San Juan, Puerto Rico * Jardines del Rey, an archipelago off the north coast of Cuba * Jardines de la Reina, an archipelago off the south coast of Cuba * Jardin ...

in the west to the Poblats Marítims in the east. Plans to extend the Avenida to the sea have existed for a long time, but have not been realized.

History

Originally envisioned as a jardin street under the name of "camino-paseo hasta el mar" the project was approved by law on 1 August 1893. The aim of the street was to link the

in the west to the Poblats Marítims in the east of the city. A first design was made by Casimiro Meseguer who intended to make the street part of a green city plan he called "Ciudad Jardín". Meseguer finished his plan in 1895. It was made with the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

in mind, with villas for the rich directly on the avenue and less expensive houses behind it. Meseguer's design gave the street a width of 100 meters and included three large

plaza A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

s with a diameter of 200 meters. A central part of the street would be a 60-meter wide landscaped stretch, streets ending on the camino would have a width of 20 meters. However, the plans were cancelled due to the projected high costs and the Avenida was constructed differently. It became part of the growth of the city to the north-east and the sea and in line with the practice of

ensanche means "widening" in Spanish. It is used to name the development areas of Spanish cities around the end of the 19th century, when the demographic explosion and the Industrial Revolution prompted the tearing down of the old city wall and the const ...

. The first part of the Avenida has a 50-meter wide landscaped stretch. A second part, leading to the Avenida de Cataluña, was finished in 1952. Construction on the third and currently final part started in 1972 and leads to the Cabanyal metro station. Although the Avenida was constructed differently than originally designed, Meseguer's ideas, however, remained popular throughout the 20th-century and were defended by

. The Avenida de Blasco Ibañez obtained its current name in 1977, previously it had been called calle número 141 del plano; Unión Soviética; Vía Triunfal; Paseo Valencia al Mar and Paseo al Mar.

Extension to sea

Plans to extend the Avenida to the sea have existed for decades but have not been realized. In 2010 the Spanish ministry of Culture blocked the plans of the city of Valencia to extend the Avenida and kept the protection of

Bien de Interés Cultural A Bien de Interés Cultural is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking countries. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" ("goods" in the economic sense) and inclu ...

of the Cabanyal neighborhood. In 2014 Valencia mayor

Rita Barberá María Rita Barberá Nolla (16 July 1948 – 23 November 2016) was a Spanish politician who was the mayor of Valencia from 1991 until 2015. Biography and political career Born in Valencia to a prominent industrial and political family, she was ...

announced that the ''Plan Especial de Protección y Reforma Interior (Pepri) del Cabanyal-Canyamelar'' would go on, including an expansion of the Avenida to the sea. The Pepri plan is controversial due to an expected destruction of homes in the Cabanyal neighborhood.

Buildings

The

University of Valencia The University of Valencia ( ca-valencia, Universitat de València ; also known as UV) is a public research university located in the city of Valencia, Spain. It is one of the oldest surviving universities in Spain, and the oldest in the Vale ...

has several of its faculties located on the Avenida de Blasco Ibañez. Due to the presence of students the Avenida de Blasco Ibañez is known as one of the nightlife areas of Valencia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avenida de Blasco Ibanez Transport in Valencia Streets in Spain