The Tourist Office is located in what was once the Portugalete railway station, on Paseo de La Canilla, where there used to be a fountain and from which it takes its current name.
It was the terminus of the line known as the Bilbao-Portugalete Railway. This beautiful civil building was built by Pablo de Alzola y Minondo in 1888. The station was built on land reclaimed from the sea, on the site of the Muelle Viejo (Old Dock). It facilitated the travel of Bilbao's bourgeoisie to the Portugalete beach of "El Salto." It also streamlined the movement of people, ideas, and goods.
It is a beautiful building, classicist in design, with French influences in the attic section. The central area is crowned by a turret with a domed roof. The clock is located at the highest point. When the Bilbao-Portugalete railway line was extended to Santurtzi—for which a tunnel was dug under the town in 1925—the station gradually fell into disuse.
In the 1960s, the "La Canilla" building came under the management of the Municipal Corporation, which restored it to house the Municipal Tourist Office.
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