Lavadero de la Fuente - Antiguo Lavadero

Typical 19th-century washhouse with shaded gardens. Centrally located, with supermarkets and restaurants. A visit is highly recommended.

There is no water, it is very dirty.

El Lavadero de la Font is located on the edge of the old town of Calpe, it is close to the bus station, where there is parking very close if you arrive by car. It is an open-air structure where you can observe how clothes were washed before there was water in homes. The Fountain and Laundry dates back to 1876 and is made up of a compartment where jugs of water could be filled and another area arranged as a communal laundry. Those in charge of “la Font”, who lived in the hut that was located there, took on the task of charging users the five cents that each two jugs of water cost and between 25 and 50 cents for washing clothes. Near the source, a siphon of the channel that carried water from the source well to the source is still preserved. Starting in the 1940s, home delivery of water began in stables and in carts equipped for this purpose, until, in 1963, due to the considerable increase in the population, running water was provided. At the end of 1998, work was undertaken to recover and unearth the sinks of the two laundry basins that were buried during the construction of the current avenue. The design of the reconstruction, the work of artists Elías Úrbez and Esteban Juárez, includes the construction of a portico or “riu-rau”, which houses the sinks of the old laundry, as well as the rehabilitation of the shed, where the taps were located, and the creation of a garden area.