Real estate property for warehouse use, known as "Warehouse 24", located in the centre of Trieste, in the Porto Vecchio area, a district that once housed the city's port and which today is in a state of decay. The building, of historical interest, was built between 1890 and 1893. The property, which has not been used for some time, is in fairly good general maintenance conditions, with some highly degraded areas. The building must be redeveloped, in harmony with the area, to accommodate commercial, tertiary and residential functions.
The building presents a rectangular layout with an extension of 19.5 x 142.5 m and is divided into three levels above ground, for a maximum height of 12 m. Located parallel to Pier 0, the property is adjacent to Warehouse 25, of similar dimensions, and to Warehouse 26. Always used as a fuel depot, it has undergone considerable transformations over the years; the building is currently mostly unused, with the exception of a small portion of the ground floor, occupied by the local Border Customs Authority. The state of conservation is overall mediocre, with some areas presenting a very bad maintenance status, and is therefore unusable, although accessible in all its parts.
The structure is about 1 m higher to allow for the loading and unloading of goods; it was built with thick load-bearing walls in sandstone, with internal partitions mainly in stone, and some partition walls in bricks. To ensure the capacity of the warehouses, the ground floor structure is characterized by the presence of stone columns, on which cast iron columns rest. The vertical connection, in a sufficient state of conservation, is guaranteed by a non-functioning freight elevator and a stone stairwell supported by an iron structure. The roof consists of two reinforced concrete slabs arranged on two slopes.
The Porto Vecchio area is located in the central area of Trieste (population 198,417), and extends along the coastal strip between the town of Barcola and the Canale di Ponterosso (heart of the city); it is delimited by Viale Miramare and by the district of the central railway station, occupying an area of approximately 67 hectares. The port structures include five piers, four parallel and one oblique, forming as many basins, and approximately 3 km of quays. The settlement of Porto Vecchio is protected from the waters of the Adriatic by a 20-metre-wide breakwater which runs parallel to the quays for about 1 km, at a distance of about 130 meters from them. The depths of the port basin have a variable depth, with a maximum of 18 metres.
The construction of the historic buildings of Porto Vecchio took place in a period of time between the end of the 1800s and the early 1900s: their use was for the storage, conservation and parking of goods, from their arrival in the port to shipment and distribution to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Starting from the 1970s, there has been a progressive abandonment of the historic warehouses, as the main port activities have been transferred to the New Port, causing their slow degradation. The property is located near the “Trieste Centrale” railway station and the historical centre of the city.