Palacio de la Prensa - Madrid, España
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Ariberna
N 40° 25.229 W 003° 42.350
30T E 440121 N 4474667
The Palacio de la Prensa , in the past Casa de la Prensa , is a building in the Spanish city of Madrid , located at number 46 Gran Vía street , opposite Plaza del Callao .
Waymark Code: WM16031
Location: Galicia, Spain
Date Posted: 04/04/2022
Views: 3
It was designed by the architect Pedro Muguruza Otaño initially to be a multifunctional building that took four years to build, from 1924 to 1928. During the 1930s it was one of the tallest buildings in Madrid, until it was erected the Telefónica Building . Made on a pentagonal floor plan Commissioned by the Madrid Press Association . It was the headquarters of the editorial of the humorous magazine La Codorniz during the forties, as well as the Monday Sheet . From 2009 to 2015, some of the flats were the headquarters of the Socialist Party of Madrid (PSM).
History
The design began in 1924 and the works began in 1925, the first stone was laid by King Alfonso XIII on July 11, 1925. It took four years to build the building that showed the originality of the construction of the brick facade. seen . Initially called Casa de la Prensa. The style of the building is modern classicism. It was officially inaugurated on April 7, 1930 with the presence of King Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia, together with the Government represented by General Dámaso Berenguer . The act was attended by numerous representations from Europe and Latin America. The cost of the building was eight millionpesetas . This commission from the Madrid Press Association opened a space for the location of a building that looked out over Plaza del Callao (an association that had been in existence for thirty years). Conceived as a multifunctional building, it housed a concert café, a cinema, rental housing and offices . The architect Pedro Muguruza Otaño was influenced by López Otero and Antonio Palacios .
The construction of the Gran Vía had already taken a journey of almost twenty years. The second section of the Gran Vía was still being built when the Palacio de la Prensa was completed. This building would be between the second and third sections of the new Madrid avenue . A cinema was installed on the mezzanine , which on January 2, 1929, was inaugurated with the projection of the film: The fate of the flesh by Víctor Fleming . The cinema had a capacity of 1,840 seats, it sometimes functioned as a theater with a small stage. Access to the seating area was via an elevator. The influx of public made for uncomfortable waiting, in 1941 the architectEnrique López-Izquierdo designs a patio at street level. The last reform carried out is in 1991 to turn it into a multi-screen cinema. In the 1940s, the Madrigal Tea Room was installed on its ground floor .
The building was the headquarters of the humorous magazine La Codorniz during the 1940s. The film director Edgar Neville had shot his first film: I want to be taken to Hollywood . 10 From 2010 to 2015, several floors of the building housed the headquarters of the Socialist Party of Madrid, then occupying the offices of 20 Minutes .
On January 10, 2017, it obtained the status of Asset of Patrimonial Interest , thanks to a decree published in the Official Gazette of the Community of Madrid on the 13th of that same month.
Features
The building shows as an outstanding element the extensive use of brick . Its exterior appearance is highly influenced by North American architecture (especially Louis Sullivan in his Auditorium Building in Chicago ), while the interior is inspired by the decoration of Spanish architecture . The façade facing Plaza del Callao shows a large triumphal arch . In the lower part are the four halls of the Palacio de la Prensa Cinemas .
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