The block formed by the streets of Alcalá, Sevilla and Carrera de San Jerónimo has been a dynamic and bustling place over the years.
It is a privileged area that tells the story one of the most memorable stages in the construction of Madrid as a modern capital. To delve into the evolution of this urban space is to get to know the story of the city and its inhabitants.
The passage of time, the different uses that the various buildings have had and the impact of these uses have modified the interior of this architectural complex. You’ll see that the most representative features of the past have been transformed.
Recovering the architectural history has been the main objective of Centro Canalejas Madrid.
To this end, important documentary work has been carried out to preserve and restore the most singular and representative ornamental elements and spaces, so that they continue to form part of the landscape and visual heritage of the people of Madrid.
Alcalá 14
A feast for the eyes
This building is known as Palacio de La Equitativa
after the insurance company that commissioned and established its headquarters at the site. It’s located at the meeting point of the streets of Alcalá and Sevilla.
Within its historic walls, the Palacio de La Equitativa has housed, in addition to the insurance company itself, the newspaper “El Heraldo”. The main hall represented the cultural strength of Madrid at the time with the Casino de Madrid, the most important shops in the city, cafés, and the Banco Español de Crédito.
Work began in January 1887, organised by José Grases Riera, a prolific modernist architect of the time. The building was inaugurated in 1891 and became an architectural landmark in the capital, on a par with the most important buildings of the era.
In 1920 Banco Español de Crédito paid nine million pesetas
to locate its central offices at this address. This initiated a period of renovation in three phases. In the first phase, the architect Joaquín Saldaña eliminated all the shops open to the street, closed parapets and placed grilles on the windows. He located the Board of Directors’ meeting room in what was the old Conversation Room of the Casino de Madrid.
In 1945, his colleague Enrique Cebrián replaced the building’s structure and constructed the second basement and the new courtyard. Fernando Cánovas del Castillo and Javier Barroso added two storeys above the cornice in 1954.
Lastly, in 1998, the forecourt was transformed, and major structural modifications were made, for example, bringing the glassed section to the height of the ninth floor of the forecourt.
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Relocation of the sculpture La Equitativa
This sculptural ensemble represents the protection of children and widows. It is the work of the Austrian sculptor Viktor Oskar Tielgner and was originally located in the Equitativa de Seguros building. When the Banco Español de Crédito acquired the building, it began to renovate the site and donated the sculpture on the façade to the Madrid City Council. The artwork was replaced by a sign with the name of the bank.
The council installed the sculpture in the Plaza del Campillo del Mundo Nuevo (near the Puerta de Toledo), but in 1962 it was removed and moved to the Fabiola de Mora y Aragón medical centre in Dehesa de la Villa. In 2003 it was moved back to the Plaza del Campillo del Mundo Nuevo, where it remains.
Canalejas 1
The legacy of a historic bank
Presiding over the Plaza de Canalejas,
this is a superb, solid, and elegant building. It’s history began in 1901, when the bank that commissioned its construction acquired the site which is adjacent to La Equitativa.
In 1902, work began with Eduardo Adaro at the helm. The architect was already known for his involvement in the Bank of Spain project. The result was a sophisticated sandstone façade. The architecture was eclectic, mixing neo-Renaissance and neo-Baroque styles. This meant the site didn’t clash with adjoining buildings.
After the Civil War, some of the adjoining buildings were badly affected.
However, it was not until 1941 that the architect Manuel Galíndez began work to unify all the buildings. This meant breaking up the symmetrical layout of the ground plan and demolishing a large part of the interior bays and the beautiful courtyard.
The only thing that remained of Adaro’s building was the façade, which underwent modifications.
In 1999 it was listed as an Asset of Cultural Interest
by the Community of Madrid. After a series of mergers between different financial institutions during the 1990s, the building was joined internally with the Palacio de la Equitativa. However, it ceased to be of use in 2004, when the bank that owned it moved its offices to the outskirts of the city. The site housed the last public-facing branch of Banco Santander until 2014.
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Alcalá 12
One of the best residential buildings in Madrid
It was completed and occupied shortly before 1898.
This residential building, located at number 12 Calle Alcalá and adjoining the Palacio de La Equitativa, was finished and occupied shortly before 1898. It was touted as one of the best houses in Madrid at the end of the 19th century.
Notable tenants include the sons of the Cantabrian merchant and banker Enrique Sainz del Rivero. These men made this block the headquarters of Banca Sainz, which was founded in 1920.
It had a very short life as a residential site, but its façade came to reflect the undoubted personality of Madrid’s local architecture. The ground floor housed buoyant shops and businesses.
In 1941 the Banco Hispano Americano acquired the building and in the same year decided to construct another building in its place, with a new façade in the style of La Equitativa.
Alcalá 10
Its walls hold treasure.
In August 1936 work began
on what was to be one of the city’s first skyscrapers. However, a few days later the work was interrupted because of the Civil War.
In January 1942, the architect Roberto García Ochoa, a regular partner with Banco Zaragozano, inaugurated the new headquarters of this Aragonese bank. Its imposing façade offered an image of architectural modernity thanks to the extraordinary relief frieze by Marès, the astonishing Art Deco grilles and the marble entrance hall.
Alcalá 8
Architectural eclecticism
In 1904, a businessman applied to the Madrid City Hall
for the municipal licence to build a site for Agence Crédit Lyonnais on the ground and mezzanine floors. In the remaining areas there would be residential housing.
Then, in 1907, the agency moved to its newly built headquarters. As part of the space there was a façade on Carrera de San Jerónimo. Overall, the architect José Urioste y Velada showed great eclecticism in his work, combining different compositional and decorative resources, with each of the floors receiving a different architectural treatment.
In 1947 the Banco Hispano Americano acquired the entire property.
They converted the residential area into offices connected to the Canalejas building. From that date onwards, interior reforms took place. For example, they removed an entrance door only to later reopen another one in the same place. They also added three floors and removed two towers from the façade.
Alcalá 6
The last part of the project
In view of its growing importance, Banco Hispano Americano
also acquired a 19th century residential building, located at number 6, Calle Alcalá. It is the simplest building in the whole block, with a low-key façade of little architectural interest.
In 1975, a building designed by the bank’s architects Luciano Díaz Canedo and José María Chapa Galíndez was erected in its place. This extended the bank’s offices and left an imitation façade, without access to the street.
