San Rafael Sugar Factory

The San Rafael Sugar Factory, also known as the Lower Factory, is one of Spain’s oldest industrial relics, first established in 1571 by the Morisco Melilla siblings Andrés, García, Leonor, and Isabel. Located in Torrox, Andalusia Spain. Originally a preindustrial facility grinding sugar with water power, the factory evolved dramatically over its 374 years of operation. By the 18th century, Enlightenment thinker Miguel Gijón y León and entrepreneur Tomás de Quilty y Valois modernized the site by introducing coal and preindustrial machinery. This fusion of ideas laid the groundwork for its 19th-century transformation: under the ownership of Martín Larios y Herreros, the factory became an industrial powerhouse, running on steam engines but still clinging to its hydraulic roots for milling.

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Over time, the structure expanded organically each era leaving its own architectural fingerprint. The leftmost building dates back to preindustrial times and still holds a carved water channel; the central structure contains the decayed remnants of the mill and industrial-era “kitchen”; and the right building, originally intended as a grand mansion, was ultimately repurposed as a sugar warehouse. Despite shutting down in 1945, its machines were repurposed elsewhere, and the property was slowly stripped of life.

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Today, what's left is a haunting industrial corpse four separate zones, all in ruin. The core of the factory, workers’ housing, overseer’s quarters, workshops, and stables now lie exposed to the elements. Large chunks of the roof have collapsed, and invasive decay has claimed much of the masonry and machinery. Although designated a level-two protected structure, the factory remains in a precarious state. For the urbex explorer, San Rafael is not just a location it’s a living timeline of industrial ambition, slowly being reclaimed by nature and silence.