4. From Sagasta Promenade to Glorieta Sasera
We go now to the city centre by Sagasta Promenade. This boulevard was built in the 19th century to link Torrero and La Paz districts to the city center, going to Basilio Paraíso Square. Sagasta is a boulevard -a central avenue with trees to walk and enjoy urban life- with road lanes at both sides. Due to the growth of the population of Zaragoza, the old Torrero Road (today Sagasta Promenade), was developed and transformed into a residential area for the bourgeoisie, who were the main agents of the industrial takeoff at the beginning of the 20th century. Tall buildings and individual houses were built following the Modernist taste, a style that reflected the ideals of this new social class. Juncosa House (no 11), Retuerta House (no 13), Corsini House (no 19) or Carlos Palao House (no 76) are some examples of this new architecture in which plants had a great importance. Zaragoza´s Modernism was linked from the very beginning to the most voluptuous and dynamic trend of European Modernism, founding its inspiration in nature: thistle leaves, all kind of little insects, flowers, among others, were present from the city center to the boats of the Canal Imperial.
Breaking with this Organicist taste, the austere facade of the Hydrographic Confederation of the Ebro was built in 1936. Granulation was replaced by the austerity of brickwork and the rhythmic order of its openings, which gave to a wide facade of academic composition. Opposite, in striking contrast, we find the sculpture named Monolith-Fountain (1984) by Ángel Orensanz. This is a structure made in reinforced concrete and metal ribs on its upper part by which a water-sheet falls. With the passing of time, the structure has been covered by moss, changing its initial aspect and turning this work of art into a symbol of the goal of the Hydrographic Confederation of the Ebro: ensure the correct work of the Ebro´s basin.
Next to it, at the Glorieta Sasera, we can see the fountain built in homage To the Defenders of the Pilar Redoubt (1892), an sculptural group made by the artist and architect Federico Amutio y Amil, who conceived the characters as an "exempt sculpture". With the passing of time, these characters became protagonists of the circular fountain formed by several water jets and two cannons. Therefore, a small leisure area opposite to an important shopping center was obtained, preserving the memory of the urban area where the defence of Zaragoza before French invasion took place.
Very close to this commemorative fountain and opposite to the building of Ibercaja, we find the so-called Cubic Fountain (1980), made by the architect Teodoro Ríos Usón, who also built the emblematic building. Ibercaja building, in tune with Functionalism, was one of the first glass towers of Zaragoza. One of its sides creates an open space with an ornamental garden and a modern fountain composed of a structure of asymmetrical cubes from which water falls down.