The origins of ancient La Hispana brickworks in Barcelona are described as
well as some developments that took place during its first years of successful operation.
Military engineer Ambrosio Garcés de Marcilla designed the factory on the basis
of an English machine that he saw at the 1851 London universal exhibition, intended
to mould the newly introduced hollow bricks as well as other more traditional building
materials. He was also the promoter and main partner of the company established in
1852 and later provided the factory with another machine that he claimed to have
invented to mould solid bricks by compressing the clay soil directly instead of the mud
made with it. La Hispana produced the first hollow bricks used in Barcelona and very
likely in Spain