Palacio de Olábarri is one of the handsome riverfront mansions that show Bilbao's late-19th-century industrial confidence. Built for shipowner José María Olábarri, it mixes domestic grandeur with the Nervión-side setting that made the city's fortunes possible.
It is an exterior stop rather than a major museum visit, but it rewards attention if you are walking between the Ensanche, the Guggenheim area and the older river crossings. Bilbao's transformation is easier to understand when you notice these older symbols of shipping and commercial wealth alongside the new architecture.