The Coltejer Building is the tallest building in

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and the tenth-tallest in Colombia as of 2016. It was completed in 1972. Coltejer is one of the most important textile companies in Colombia, and the largest textile complex in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. It was founded in Medellín by Alejandro Echavarría on October 22, 1907.

Building history

Colombia began a skyscraper building era in the 1960s in Medellín. The Coltejer Building was designed by architects Raúl Fajardo, Aníbal Saldarriaga, Germán Samper, and Jorge Manjarres. Its construction required the demolition of the art nouveau Edificio Gonzalo Mejía which contained the Junín Theatre and the Hotel Europa. With a height of , the Coltejer Building was the fourth-tallest building in Colombia, and was the tallest building in South America at the time of its completion. It is said to resemble a

sewing machine needle A sewing machine needle is a specialized sewing needle, needle for use in a sewing machine. A sewing machine needle consists of: * shank - clamped by the sewing machine's needle holder * shoulder - where the thick shank tapers down to the shaft ...

, representing the textile company after which it is named.

Statistics

*Height: 175 metres *Area: 42,000 square metres. *Floors: 36 *Parking spaces: 150 *Elevators: 11 The Coltejer Building can host 40,000 seated people and 168,000 standing people.

Coltejer

History

The Echavarría family were the founders of two textile companies, Coltejer and Fabricato, and were also involved in coffee exportation and importation of other goods. In 1907, Alejandro Echavarría decided to import four

power loom A power loom is a mechanized loom. Shuttle looms The main components of the loom are the warp beam, heddles, harnesses, shuttle, reed, and takeup roll. In the loom, yarn processing includes shedding, picking, battening and taking-up operations ...

s, which he put to work along with twelve workers in the patio of his coffee-processing plant. This was the beginning of Coltejer. During the Depression era, Coltejer bought discarded looms cheaply from the United States that were brought in on muleback. During World War II, Coltejer was operating some 70,000 spindles and 1,900 looms, employing 4,000 workers in its Medellin plant in addition to those at

Envigado Envigado () is a city and municipality due South of Medellín, Colombia in the department of Antioquia Department, Antioquia. It is located in the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley. It borders El Poblado, Medellín to the north, Sabaneta, An ...

Production

Coltejer's profits increased by a factor of twenty between 1940 and 1949, from 830,000 pesos to 16,520,000. Coltejer has a total fabric production capacity of about 60 million metres, of which 90% is used to produce clothing and 10% is to make home textiles. It is also one of the leading

denim Denim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more Warp (weaving), warp threads. This twill weave produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. Denim, as it is recognized today, was f ...

producers in Colombia. Coltejer works with 67 exclusive distributors and 77

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

rs in Colombia.

References