The Fiat Tagliero Building is a Futurist-style service station in

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera (), is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region (Eritrea), Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the List of capital cities by altitude, sixth highest capital in the wo ...

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

. It was completed in 1938 and designed by the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

Giuseppe Pettazzi.

Historical background

The Fiat Tagliero is noted as one of the foremost

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

buildings of Italian Asmara. Conceived as a simple petrol station owned by dr. Tagliero (the Fiat concessionary in Asmara), the building was designed by Engr. Pettazzi as a futuristic structure that resembled an aeroplane incorporating a central tower with office space, cashiers desk and shop — and supporting a pair of huge 15m cantilevered, reinforced

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

wings. During construction, local authorities required each wing to be supported by pillars, and original plans, found in 2001, depicted the supports. Pettazzi maintained the supports were unnecessary and reportedly settled the argument by threatening to kill the contractor if the supports were not removed. In the end the supports were removed and the wings held. During WW2 the Fiat Tagliero was partially hit by British bombing, but survived without huge damage: the wings proved to be very well built and did not collapse. The building, used until recently as a

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

service station, remains structurally sound and has not been damaged during numerous conflicts affecting the Horn of Africa during the second half of the twentieth century. Restored in 2003, the service station is "Category I" listed in Eritrea, meaning no part of the building may be altered: it is one of the most important Art Deco buildings that gave to the city of Asmara the UNESCO approval to be a ''World Heritage Site'' in July 2017.UNESCO: Asmara
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Video about Tagliero building
Futurist architecture Transport infrastructure completed in 1938 Italian fascist architecture Buildings and structures in Asmara Shell plc buildings and structures Historic filling stations Modernist architecture in Eritrea 1938 establishments in Africa Aviation art {{coord, 15, 19, 42, N, 38, 55, 33, E, region:ER-MA_type:landmark, display=title

Historical background

Notes

See also

External links