Luis Carlón Méndez-Pombo was born in Villada in 1910. He studied at the Madrid School of Architecture, where he earned his degree in 1934 and lived in the Student Hall of Residence. He began his professional practice as part of the Architects’ Association of León in 1935.

At the time, the postulates of academic pedagogy were in full effervescence, contrasting or overlapping with the architecture of the Modern Movement established by the European avant-gardes in the 1920s and 1930s. It was the era of the GATEPAC and the magazine AC.

Méndez-Pombo designed and managed his first project with Julián Laguna. It was the Escuelas de la Azucarera de Castilla in Venta de Baños. In 1936, he developed the design for the Yutera Palentina industrial complex, and in 1937, he finished construction on the project for the Teatro Cine Ortega. He later faced a legal complaint from a colleague from the Student Hall of Residence, which landed him before a military court in Burgos, but fortunately, it did not result in major consequences.

The mid-1940s brought a period of increasingly numerous commissions for all kinds of buildings, from cinemas (Avenida, Proyecciones, Rey Don Sancho, etc.) to residences (calle Teniente Velasco, avenida Manuel Rivera, calle Burgos, for the Obra Sindical del Hogar, etc.), the renovation of commercial spaces (Bar Miami, La Orquídea, etc.), bank offices (Español de Crédito), and schools (Filipenses, Alemanes, etc.), which continued until his retirement in 1978.

Alberto Combarros highlights three different periods in his career: “the period before the Civil War and immediately after, with rationalist and expressionist projects, which he later abandoned for interventions characterized by a great rationality but with a treatment inspired by the work of Zuazo, with classicist details (window framing, a change in materials, plastering and brick). Then in his last 15 years of professional activity, he returned to the modes of the International Style in projects such as the Rey Don Sancho cinema and office complex, as well as several office buildings and residences on calle Mayor, and the Colegio de los Alemanes.”[1] Combarros also mentions “his capacity for calculation in reinforced concrete (technical training, which was uncommon in the post-war years), speed in completing commissions (hard working) and in constructive rationality (which he fostered, especially in housing projects, which kept costs low).”

In almost all of his production, he adopted the principles of the Modern Movement, with rationality in every aspect of his designs.

In 1936, he was treasurer of the Económica Palentina de Amigos del País and president (1979) of ADEPA (Association for the Defence of Historical-Artistic Heritage). Over the years he showed a great interest in collecting and travel, which left him with a notable cultural understanding. Evoking the gatherings in Madrid, he organized similar activities with Santiago Amón (a first-rate art critic), and other illustrious figures.

Biography by Eduardo González Fraile

Bibliografía

• COMBARROS AGUADO, Alberto, “Cine Ortega (Palencia)”, in VILLALOBOS ALONSO, Daniel, PÉREZ BARREIRO, Sara, RINCÓN BORREGO, Iván, dirs., Arquitectura de cine: fotogramas 010, 2016, pp. 115-122
• DELGADO HUERTOS, E., La construcción del campus de la Yutera (Palencia) 1999-2002. La producción de un nuevo espacio Universitario, Universidad de Valladolid PITTM, 85, Palencia, 2014, pp. 53-78.
• COMBARROS AGUADO, Alberto, “La Yutera palentina: rehabilitación de una fábrica para una nueva función: la enseñanza universitaria”, in GALLEGO FERNÁNDEZ, Pedro Luis, REDONDO CANTERA, María José VALBUENA GARCÍA, Francisco, coords., Locus sapientiae: la Universidad de Valladolid en sus edificios, Universidad de Valladolid, Consejo social, Valladolid, 2010, pp. 82-87.
• LANDROVE, Susana, ed., Equipamientos I: Lugares públicos y nuevos programas, 1925-1965, Registro DOCOMOMO Ibérico, 1925-1965, Fundación DOCOMOMO Ibérico/Fundación Caja de Arquitectos, Barcelona, 2010.
• COMBARROS AGUADO, Alberto, “Fábrica La Yutera Palentina”, in COSTA, Xavier, LANDROVE, Susana, eds., Arquitectura del movimiento moderno: registro DOCOMOMO ibérico: 1925-1965/Modern Movement Architecture: Iberian DOCOMOMO Register, Fundación DOCOMOMO Ibérico, Barcelona, 1996, pp. 272-273.
• COMBARROS AGUADO, Alberto, “La Yutera palentina”, in AA VV, La Yutera. Recuperación de la Arquitectura Industrial, Diputación Provincial y Colegio de Arquitectos de León, León, 1991, pp. 23-35.

[1] COMBARROS AGUADO, Alberto, “La Yutera palentina”, in Rivera Blanco et al., La Yutera. Recuperación de la Arquitectura Industrial, Provincial Council and Architects’ Association of León, León, 1991, p. 26.