[1] The building was originally built to educate orphans whose parents had died as a result of working in the mining industry.

[3][4] On 12 February 2020, the Gijón city council, with the votes of left-wing parties PSOE, Podemos and IU, declined to launch a campaign for promoting the Universidad Laboral as World Heritage Site by arguing it "reflects Francoism", since it was built during the dictatorship era, even though the idea of this building was born in the Second Republic.

[5][6] Luis Moya, who designed the facility along the lines of the Parthenon in Athens, chose to have the main gate face away from the city, so that visitors coming from Gijón would have to walk around the university before entering, and therefore fully admire its magnificence.

Outside, there is a figure of the Virgin of Covadonga with Corinthian columns sustaining the statues of saints Joseph, Peter, Paul and Ignatius.

The floor is entirely covered with marble and the pews, which can hold one thousand people, are made of special wood from Equatorial Guinea and customized for the church.

In the rest of the lands bequeathed by the José Antonio Girón Foundation to the Universidad Laboral, other new facilities were created.

The Hospital of Cabueñes, the municipal morgue, the Scienfic and Technologic Park and the Campus of Gijón, as part of the University of Oviedo, now occupy the former sporting grounds.