The paper industrialist who went on to publish books and newspapers

At number 20 Via Laietana stands one of the most disturbing and decontextualized buildings in Barcelona. It is the Nervión Building, a glass and metal monster erected in the late 1970s, which houses the headquarters of an insurance company. Previously, the site had been occupied by a magnificent modernist mansion designed by architect Francesc Guardia Vidal, son-in-law of Lluís Domènech i Montaner. Beyond the poor taste of the man who had it demolished in 1977 to build the Nervión Building, what interests us is the ownership of the mansion itself, as it was the headquarters of the Papelera Española company in Barcelona, ​​a key industry founded by Nicolás María de Urgoiti in 1901.

Born, by chance, in Madrid to a Basque family, Urgoiti got used to keeping a personal diary at a very young age, recording everything that happened to him. After completing his studies as a civil engineer, he went to work in a paper mill, a job that would mark him for life. After learning how the business worked, he set up on his own and, together with Rafael Picavea Leguía (who had been one of the founders of BBVA), created Papelera Española (Spanish Paper Mill) in 1901. This new company emerged as a merger of other smaller companies, as Urgoiti had fought throughout his life to achieve significant concentration in the paper sector. His efforts were aimed at achieving both horizontal and vertical integration of the business, convinced that this strategy would allow manufacturers to reduce costs and offer more competitive prices. Later, after investing heavily, he discovered that he had exaggerated paper consumption in Spain, which led to persistent financial problems.

The creation of the paper manufacturers' trust brought clashes with both small producers and the newspaper sector, which was one of its main clients. Faced with the campaigns being waged against him, he thought a good solution was to have his own newspaper because he could respond to criticism and, furthermore, there would be demand for paper for his business. This is how he founded The Sun (1917), at which point he set out to create a quality newspaper from which to proselytize his political and social ideals, which consisted of the promotion of freedom and democracy, the intensification and expansion of culture and work, as well as equal opportunities. He also advocated anti-militarism and anti-clericalism.

In fact, he considered that the press of his time had a series of deep-rooted problems that he summarized as "petty political partisanship, a lack of quality and newsworthiness, and an inability to become a business." These statements, made in a 1915 speech, remain fully valid more than a century later. His main enemy in the press sector was the conglomerate known as The Trust, which was made up of the The Liberal, The Impartial and The Herald from Madrid. Other media that Urgoiti created were the newspapers The Voice (1920), Crucible (1931), Light (1932) and the magazines The Sphere, Graphic World and New WorldHe was also the founder and owner of the Febus news agency (1924). One of the ideologists behind the editorial line of these media outlets was the philosopher José Ortega y Gasset.

But with so many wars going on, it was difficult to keep the business running financially, and in 1926 he had to leave Papelera Española after almost a quarter of a century of running it. The confrontation with the other shareholders was the trigger for that end. Before this, in 1918, he had founded the Institute of Biology and Serum Therapy (IBYS) with a group of biologists. Another business venture was the creation of the publishing house CALPE (Compañía Anónima de Librería y Publicaciones Españolas), founded in 1918 with the aim of raising the cultural level of the country. Five years later, he had the Palacio del Libro built on Madrid's Gran Vía as the publishing house's headquarters, with a large bookstore on the ground floor. Later, the bookstore changed its name to become La Casa del Libro, a brand that endures to this day, now owned by the Planeta group. In 1923, under pressure from shareholders, CALPE merged with the Catalan publishing house Espasa, owned by the family of the same name.

If having to leave the Papelera Española caused him to become depressed, the loss of control of the newspaper The Sun (1931) his emotional health deteriorated completely. His family admitted him to a sanatorium near Madrid, but after a suicide attempt, he was transferred to Switzerland, where he remained until the end of the Civil War.