With him leaves one of the most recognized professionals in his field during the second half of the 20th century in the Region of Murcia
The Lorca architect José Luis Fernández Romero died this Friday at the age of 82. With him leaves one of the most recognized professionals in his field during the second half of the 20th century in the Region of Murcia, to which he brought many of the avant-garde currents and movements of his time to redesign urban landscapes.
Fernández Romero was born on August 25, 1939 and studied high school in Murcia, Granada and Madrid, the city in which he graduated in Architecture at the Polytechnic University. His teachers were Sáenz de Oiza, Fernández Alba, Carvajal and García de Castro, the most prestigious names in the new mid-century Spanish architecture.
He worked as a professor of Urban Planning at the Madrid School of Architecture while working in the private sector and in 1970 he returned to Lorca, where he opened a studio and began working as an interim municipal architect. In 1973, the year of the flood, he won the competition for the municipal architect position and had to coordinate the work after the catastrophe.
From 1976 to 1993 he practiced his freelance profession, a period in which he built some of the most emblematic buildings in Lorca, with a modern and avant-garde architectural concept. Among his most unique works are the Torre Lorca building, next to the Palacio de Guevara; the Goya building, the only one with an exposed concrete façade built to date in Levante; the Sol building, with custom cladding; the Gaudí, awarded for the quality of the building; and the Domingo Sastre nursing home, among others.
He returned to the Town Hall in 1993 and held the deputy directorship of the Town Planning Department from its foundation until 2006. Another of its most important buildings, the Town Planning Department, is from that time, integrated among the remains of the old convent of La Merced.
Awards and distinctions
In 1999, the Autonomous Community awarded him the Special Prize for Professional Work in favor of Architecture and Urbanism for his extensive professional career; in 2017, after completing 50 years of profession, the College of Architects gave him its Gold Brick; and in 2018 the Lorca City Council received the Diploma of Distinguished Services to the City.
In the political sphere, he became head of the Alianza Popular list for mayor and was a councilor between 1983 and 1997.
Married since 1967 to María Victoria Ilundain, he was the father of four children: José Luis, Mariví, Patricia and Gonzalo, the only one who has followed in his footsteps in architecture and who has also left his mark on the city’s recent urban planning with projects such as the remodeling of the Plaza de España or the reconstruction of the San Fernando neighborhood after the 2011 earthquakes.
His funeral chapel, in the Lázaro Soto de Lorca funeral home, was visited this Friday by dozens of family friends, colleagues from the world of architecture and construction, and by politicians. The funeral will be held this Saturday at 12:00.
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