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INDUSTRIAL ARCHEOLOGY - 
THE WAREHOUSES IN THE OLD
PORT OF TRIESTE
Arch. Antonella Caroli

Besides presenting a historical review of the port and its facilities, focusing particularly on the plans and maritime and port constructions that determined its configuration, this study calls for the conservation of the constructions with a view to the complete re-use of the port area.  Developments in maritime transport, naval architecture and trade traffic patterns impose a radical transformation of port facilities and transport systems, entailing a new configuration of the coastline and offshore structures which must perforce take account of the importance of the Old Port buildings and the large area they occupy.
It must be remembered that each single building should be considered as a unique example of the construction techniques of the late 19th century, when there was a change in building principles and the configuration of maritime structures - in terms of defence and internal infrastructure - and an increase in the use of mechanised equipment. At the time of building (1868), these developments were incorporated into the space allocation criteria in the form of a reduction of the ratio between quay width and storage surface area, an increase in free quay depth, a drastic reduction in the ratio between closed covered areas and open-air areas and the exponential expansion of land areas with respect to free quay lines. It will certainly be necessary to use new space allocation criteria for the conversion and re-use of the port, but this must take account of the monumental value and unique character of its buildings.  Among the sheds and warehouses in the Old Port are a number of other important buildings that go to make up a living catalogue of the construction characteristics of a port system: office buildings, customs sheds, old consortium canopies, laboratories, the old refectory and canteen, the first railway warehouses, the electrical transforming station, the water power plant, hydraulic and electrical systems, etc.  And mention should be made of the work of the companies that built the Old Free Port using patented systems, including: 

Monier, bought in 1880 by the Berlin company Actien Gesellschaft fur Beton und Monierbau and applied by engineers
Weyss and Freytag (German holders of the Monier rights); 
Wayss, Moller, Melan (Germany and Austria); 
Cottacin, Bordenave, Pavin de Lafarge, Coignet, Bonna (France); 
Hyatt (Portland cement), Tyerman (Britain); 
Hennebique (bought by G.A. Porcheddu and Giay in Turin). 

All this information is set out in catalogues, conference texts and technical specifications in the State Archive of Trieste, the Historical Archive of the Port and the library of Triest K.K. Staats Gewerbeschule (now I.T.I. Volta). They testify to the history of building with reinforced concrete and the contribution of pioneers and the first construction companies to use these techniques - in the Port of Trieste.  All this implies that if historical-technical-scientific mistakes are to be avoided, each building must be known in all its details before its demolition or renovation can be considered, particularly in the light of the fact that the whole area is subject to the Lagerhauser regulations.  The simple and streamlined architecture of the warehouses and other facilities in the Old Free Port was functionally efficient for the port work of the time (late 19th century). The Port of Trieste resumed work at full capacity in 1814 at the end of the French occupation and the return of Austrian rule and customs prerogatives. Between 1820 and 1858 a number of projects were completed: Riva Grumula was filled in and the "Lanterna" lighthouse was built at the end of the Teresiano pier (1833), the Giuseppino and Sartorio piers were completed (1847), the Odorico Panfilli shipyard, opened in 1789, was closed (1851) and the part of the waterfront (now Corso Cavour) it occupied filled in and the Mandracchio was also filled in (1858-63). 
By the end of 1858 the Port of Trieste was equipped with seven piers: Klutsch, del Sale, San Carlo, della Sanità, Giuseppino, Sartorio, and della Lanterna.  These years also saw the construction by Southern Railways (K.K. Priv. Sudbahn-Gesellschaft) of new infrastructure to provide Trieste with rail links to the rest of the Empire. 
Work on the maritime structures and port buildings began in 1850. When the railway station was opened in 1857, work was then started on the first railway warehouses (of which only Lager No. 11 still remains) which were used by vessels moored in the dock closest to the station.  The construction of the rail network and the opening of the station paved the way for a recovery in the activity of the port, which had suffered a slump as a result of competition from northern seaports and delays in the construction of rail links with the interior.  So successful was the recovery that it became necessary to invest in further maritime and port facilities, which entailed filling and clearance work along the waterfront and the demolition of a number of historic buildings (including the Lazzaretto Vecchio. 
The planning process was a laborious one, above all because of the features of the site: draughts were shallow, mooring and manoeuvring were complicated by prevailing winds and the structure of the quays and there was a lack of loading and unloading equipment both quayside and shipside. And the changes brought about by developments in naval architecture and merchant marine fleets and the growth of trade were accompanied by a radical transformation of port facilities and rail systems. 

The planning stage (1861-63)

French engineer Paulin Talabot, who together with his brothers (Jules and Léon) had worked on the expansion of the port of Marseilles and railway-building in the Rhone valley and Algeria, was commissioned by Sudbahn to submit a plan for the new Port of Trieste to the Emperor by June 1861.
On December 12th of the same year the governor and the president of the Chamber of Commerce asked Talabot to modify his plan, which had not found favour in the city. 
On April 22nd 1862 he presented the Emperor with a second plan, "Das Triester Hafen Project" which, following further modifications by M. Pascal (chief engineer of the port of Marseilles), was approved by a clear majority of the Imperial "Hafencommission" on January 27th 1865. Between 1861 and 1867 alternative plans (including one for a canal port running across the city and alternative sites with various dock extensions) were submitted by Major von Schroeder, Captain Drago Poppovich and H. von Conti, H. Rieter, various shipping operators and engineers including A.D. Pontini, Giovanni Righetti and R.A.D. Vicentini. The Talabot-Pascal plan was centred on the north-east roads, which stretched for about 2,600 metres from the old dock of the Lazzaretto di Santa Teresa to the del Sale pier; it included five piers (four parallel and one oblique) which were designed to form four open-ended docks protected by an off-shore breakwater (measuring 1,100 x 20 metres, with a spur) parallel to the shore quay and 150 metres from the piers. This design entailed reducing the entry channel by 95 metres, not counting the external rock barrier added to the plan in 1865.
Work began in February 1868 with the filling of the Lazzaretto Nuovo port. From 1867 to 1869 work on the site was under the supervision of Sudbahn Director-General M. Tostain and Viennese inspector M. Pontzen. They were replaced by M. Michel, M. Bontoux e M.F. Bomches, engineering consultants M.H. Pascal and Josef Ritter, assisted by A. Fraisse and the engineers J. Krause e C. Perinello, with M.J. Miller and H.Gerarrex as assistant engineers. 
Building work was subsequently entrusted to the supervision of the Southern Railway Company (K.K. Priv. Sudbahn Gesellschaft), which undertook to finish the entire project by 1873. It was eventually completed in 1883-4. 
The port waterfront, from the canal to the far side of pier 0 and including the width of the piers, was 1,600 metres long. The piers measured as follows:

Pier 0 (320 metres long) 
Pier I (215 metres long, 120 wide) 
Pier II (200 metres long, 80 wide) 
Pier III (210 metres long, 80 wide) 
Pier IV (150 metres long, 95 wide)

The piers formed the four docks: 

I - 230 metres long, 150 wide 
II - 268 metres long, 215 wide 
III - 300 metres long, 210 wide 
IV - 300 metres long, 210 wide on one side,150 on the other.

Dock I was an oil terminal until steel tanks were lowered into the sea in 1893. The piers, docks and quays were protected from heavy seas by the off-shore breakwater, on which work was completed in 1875. That year Piers I and II and the first dock entered into service. 
In 1878 the goods station and passenger terminal were opened. The following year Pier III was completed and the second dock was opened to traffic. On April 10th 1880, on the initiative of the City Council and Chamber of Commerce, the Port Authority came into being under the name of "General Public Warehouses" (Oeffentliche Lagerhauser). 
The oil dock (designed in 1876) was completed in 1882. The project was hampered by draught problems, which necessitated continuous operations of dredging, consolidation and filling. In 1883 work was finished on the filling in and construction of the waterfront embankments, which completed the first stage of the New Port, including the off-shore breakwater measuring 1,200 x 20 metres. 
The construction of piers 0, I, II and III and docks I, II and III were carried out by a company from Marseilles.  With the construction of Pier IV it can be said that most of the work of building and equipping had been completed, and the three docks were operational. The same was true of the buildings of warehouses 5, 8, 11, 12a, 13a, 14, 15 and 16. 
Work continued until 1893, by which time the New Port of Trieste was nearing completion in terms of accessories and equipment. The warehouses and sheds were at a partial stage of completion in 1891, when the Trieste's privileged status as a Free Port was revoked and the area of the New Port (now the Old Port) was fenced off and became a "free zone" for goods entering it, and the city lost its traditional customs exemptions. To qualify for exemption, goods (coffee, wine, sugar) held in the city warehouses had to be taken to the General Warehouses fenced inside the "Free Point". 
The "capannoni" (sheds), the name commonly used for the oldest of our port buildings, belong to a classification under the specific construction regulations of the "LAGERHÄUSER", comprising buildings to be used for the deposit, storage and conservation of goods from their arrival in the port to when they are shipped out for distribution. 
The types of buildings constructed depended on how the physical space was divided up, but also on the organisation of the port operations and labour force. The Port's sheds and warehouses were laid out along three parellel roads - one broad central road and two lateral ones, one of which was adjacent to the railway. 
The classification of building types (originally there were 38 individual buildings) can still be divided into three main groups: 
1. only one storey above ground; 
2. two or three storeys above ground with cellar and attic and cast-iron-supported galleries between projecting wings; 
3. four storeys above ground with cellar, ground floor and four upper floors with galleries. 
The warehouses were equipped with cranes, hoists, service lifts and other loading and unloading gear. Those in groups 1 and 2 had a perron about one metre high, suitable for use with rail wagons and road vehicles. Group 3 buildings, of more recent construction (early 20th century) had access at ground level.
During construction, the biggest problems were presented by the foundations, which had to be adapted to the difficult conditions of the terrain. This meant that a variety of construction approaches had to be used and problems solved as they arose, which delayed completion of the buildings. 
The main architectural features of these historic buildings are to be found in the vertical and horizontal lines of the façades, the geometrical designs of the bases, doors and windows and all the other elements that go to make up the language of the architecture as a whole. The horizontal lines (such as the string-courses) give the buildings a longitudinally-orientated appearance, interrupted by the vertical lines (such as pilaster strips and wings) that accentuate the impression of height and provide the structural elements with architectural character. 
In some cases the horizontal lines combine harmoniously with the surface vertical structures, thereby diversifying the architectural composition. The free dimensions of doors and windows are in keeping with geometrical criteria and are thus consonant with the harmonious proportions of the buildings' various components. 
Overall, the main body of the façade between the socle and the coping is marked by unity and a particular value in terms of dimension. At the base and the string-courses the horizontal lines join the vertical lines, columns and mouldings that provide aesthetic solutions only in the form of cut and treated stone. 

Overhanging elements are generally matched by pillars or similar load-bearing features supporting the floors above ground level. What scant decoration was usual at the time of construction is provided essentially by the differentiated finishing materials and, more prominently, the work of stone cutters and dressers. Cornices and string-courses were shaped in cement mortar and whitewashed with two coats of milk of lime.
The presence of cornices, modillions, capitals, plinths, sills and wings in a variety of materials was rendered highly effective by the corresponding variation in their specific natural colours, providing a harmonious chromatic pattern to the buildings as a whole.

Cast iron in the port buildings

The aesthetic effect of the cast iron used in the architecture of the Old Port makes a great contribution to the monumental character of its warehouses. Cast iron was not considered suitable for external structures because of its vulnerability to atmospheric conditions, but more than a century later the cast-iron mullions in the external gallery skeletons are still well preserved. Cast iron became widely used in construction in the second half of the 19th century. 
As new materials, steel and cast iron brought with them new building methods, producing an innovative architectural language which combined static-structural and decorative functions. Grey cast iron was used in load-bearing structures - usually under compression, given its poor resistence to traction. It was made especially suitable for support mullions, galleries and staircases by its capacity to soften vibrations. The grey colour in which it was painted made its surface look similar to stone. It was produced by means of processing iron minerals in a blast furnace or electric furnace using steel-making techniques. Common cast iron was a non-malleable alloy of carbon steel and various impurities (including manganese, phosphorus, silicon and sulphur). Special processes were required to make it malleable and weldable, and the type of cast iron produced depended on cooling speed: common cast iron (white or grey) and special irons (silicon, nickel, etc.). White iron, devoid of graphite, was more easily melted but more brittle and suitable for the production of small articles.

Cast-iron mullions in the port of Trieste

The cast-iron mullions in the Old Port (a dismantled specimen is to be found in the room behind the water power plant) were of geometrical cross-section, generally circular or polygonal with rounded angles. The mullions arranged in lines on the ground floor of the warehouses had octagonal columns - higher than on the other storeys (see photo) - resting on foundation plate bolted to the floor. They were hollow, slightly tapered at the top near the capital (see photo), and decorated with varying classical designs (Corinthian with one or more rows of acanthus leaves and scrolls) even within a single group in a building. 
The capitals, which served to bear the load of the main joists, were centred under the joists in such as way as to prevent rotation. The concave-sided capital abacus was proud - its surfaces free from the joist it supported. The gallery mullions continued up beyond the floors, connected to one another by a single central rod. On the upper part the capitals were provided with flanges or expansions, and the foot (with reduced shaft) of the mullion above was firmly bolted in place. 
The entire arrangement had to be perfectly perpendicular in order to stand the strain of compression. The calculation of dimensions and thicknesses had to take account of overall loads and their distribution in addition to the weight of the components themselves. 

Warehouse 26

The sheds and warehouses may be exemplified by a description of building No. 26. It covers 9,000 square metres, has a frontal length of about 244 metres, an underground storey for use as a cellar, ground floor, three upper floors and an attic. The height of the storeys, the artistic detail of the façades and the division of the interior spaces are analogous to those of the other warehouses. As this is a particularly long building, it was designed with two main staircases providing access to the upper storeys. Counting its floor, the cellar extended to a depth of 3.40 metres below the ground floor and had a maximum usable height of 2.85 metres. 
Divided into two symmetrical parts, the cellar stretched from the bed of the Martesin stream, which according to the planning survey ran along a covered canal through the warehouse, to the oil dock. Storage and handling services were carried out by seven interior hoists, eight lifts and two interior hatches communicating directly with the cellar. 
Access to rooms and spaces on the various upper storeys were provided by 3.67 metre-wide galleries running along all the receding surfaces of both façades. The main façade was designed in the same style as that of the other buildings. In the main bodies of the building the monotonous form of the windows was broken by replacement of the lintel with an archivolt. 
The sharp frontespieces were topped with eight small terraces each with a lateral attic. Four more small terraces flanking the main body were surmounted by high and slender attic covers. Built on to the city side of the warehouse was a small structure containing a staircase on one side and a series of office rooms on the other. Above the main body of the warehouse rose a clocktower which overlooked the whole port esplanade. 
The secondary proportions of this warehouse, whose movement was well combined in the projecting and receding lines of its various parts and the galleries along back and front, gave its façades a simple, harmonious appearance.  The turrets above the top cornices, the richly-decorated attics standing even higher on the central parts and the clocktower rising majestically from one part of the building gave it an ostentatious sumptuousness that was in marked contrast to its overall functional design. 

The water power plant in the old port of Trieste

Behind Pier 0, away from the centre of the Old Free Point, stands a remarkable building distinguished by a high brick chimney and two squared towers flanking the main façade - the water power plant. 
The function of this plant was to draw water from the system of urban mains and provide it with enough compression to produce energy to be supplied to various users. 
The need for a central power generator for remote users was not suited to steam, the main type of power used at the time, and electricity was still in its infancy. The only remaining option was pressurised water, as is borne out by the fact that the same solution was adopted at the time in other ports in Italy and elsewhere. 
The water power plant was thus placed at the service of the quayside cranes and the exterior cranes and interior lifts of the port warehouses. Its specifications were as follows. A series of Cornish boilers with twin flues 2.10 metres in diameter and 10 metres long, built by St. Jashka & Sohn in Vienna, produced steam at seven atmospheres. 
The steam powered four main engines and one auxiliary engine built by Machinenbau Aktien Gesellschaft vormals Breitfeld, Danek & Com., Prague-Karolinenthal. 
The main engines were formed of an upper section which provided the drive power and a lower operational section. The former was a double-expansion reciprocating steam engine with a Compound system producing 25 HP, a high-pressure central cylinder measuring 450 mm in diameter and two low-pressure lateral cylinders with a diameter of 600 mm. The stroke of the three cylinders was coordinated by a system of cranks and conecting rods. Pressure was kept constant by hydraulic accumulators: two were located in the main towers and one in a tower in a more central position near the port entrances. 

A 6.8-kilometre network of cast-iron piping fitted in underground tunnels (accessible for inspection) carried pressurised water for the length of the port area. From these mains, measuring 100-200 mm in diameter, narrower pipes branched off to supply power to individual users. 
Between 1920 and 1930 the plant provided power for the following users: 
- 83 quayside cranes with a capacity of 1,500 kg and 4 with a capacity of 3,000 kg (the last 21 cranes were installed between 1907 and 1910); 
- 31 exterior warehouse cranes with 800 kg capacity, used for lifting goods to upper storeys (warehouses Nos. 2 and 4 had important specimens); 
- 57 service lifts, mostly carrying 1,200 kg, inside the various port warehouses. 

As time passed, some of the quayside cranes (Pier IV) were electrified and their pistons replaced with electric motors and reducers, others were dismantled because of age or (Pier III) because the warehouse they served was demolished. So in its last years years of service the water power plant operated at a fraction of its full capacity.
Besides the interest of its equipment, a rare example of machinery that worked regularly for over a century, the architectural features of the building that housed the plant should not be overlooked. It consisted of a main part and two lateral sections, one of which is flanked by the two towers mentioned above. The main part was used to house the rows of boilers, of which three still survive. One of the lateral sections houses the engine room and is preceded by an entrance hall and flanked by the two hydraulic accumulator towers. 
The whole complex is built with walls of solid brick on stepped stone foundations. Most of the exterior surfaces have a mock rusticated horizontally-lined finish with overhanging decorative cornices. 
Most of the window spaces are mullioned with two lights and lowered arches. In architectural terms the building may be said to have been constructed in a style that was highly popular at the time both locally and elsewhere: though belonging broadly to the "Rundbogenstil", it picks out characteristic features in order to adapt itself to the individual functional requirements it was called upon to meet. 
Such a complex of plant and buildings constitutes a remarkable specimen of industrial archaeology. Its restoration and conservation should constitute a specific commitment for as many people as possible.