Tomás Bilbao Hospitalet

Tomás Bilbao Hospitalet
Acting Minister of Justice
In office
14 September 1938 – 27 September 1938
Minister without portfolio
In office
16 August 1938 – 5 March 1939
Personal details
Born18 September 1890
Bilbao, Spain
Died16 March 1954(1954-03-16) (aged 63)
Mexico City, Mexico
SpouseJulia Durán
Children7
Alma materMadrid School of Architecture

Tomás Bilbao Hospitalet (1890–1954) was a Spanish architect and politician. He was among the founders of Basque Nationalist Action. During the Spanish Civil War, he served as minister withour portfolio and acting minister of justice. He exiled first to France and then, to Mexico.

Early life and education

Erripa Kalea, a building designed by Tomás Bilbao in Bilbao

Bilbao was born in Bilbao on 18 September 1890 and his father was a building contractor.[1] He received a degree in architecture in 1918 from the School of Architecture of Madrid.[2]

Career

After working as an architect Bilbao designed Altos Hornos de Vizcaya in 1929.[2] Like other architects of his generation he was influenced from German expressionism and the architectural approach led by Erich Mendelsohn.[3] Bilbao was involved in politics becoming a cofounder of the Basque Nationalist Action party in 1930 and the president of the Bilbao Municipal Housing Board in 1931.[1] He was also councillor and deputy mayor of the Bilbao City Council during the Second Republic.[1] In the period 1938–1939 he was minister without portfolio.[1]

Exile, personal life and death

After the Civil War Bilbao first exiled to France.[2] Then he settled in Mexico in May 1942 when France was invaded by the Nazi forces.[2] There he worked for the Compañía Mexicana de Comercio Exterior.[2]

Bilbao was married to Julia Durán with whom he had seven children.[2] Their oldest son was arrested and executed following the exile of his father.[1][4] Tomás Bilbao died in Mexico City on 16 March 1954.[2]

One of his grandchildren, Tatiana Bilbao, is a well-known architect in Mexico.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Tomás Bilbao Hospitalet" (in Spanish). Real Academia de la Historia. 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Juan Ignacio del Cueto Ruiz-Funes. "Contributions of the Basque Exile to Mexican Architecture". Mas Context. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  3. ↑ Lucía C. Pérez-Moreno; Elena Martínez-Litago (2017). "Bilbao and the Magazine Nueva Forma". MAS Context (30–31): 30–31.
  4. ↑ "Bilbao Hospitalet, Tomás". Eusko Ikaskuntza. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.