Madrid - Gran Vía

The Gran Vía, which runs from the Calle de Alcalá to the Plaza de España, reflects the very essence of modern Madrid. With its office blocks, its banks and department stores, its cafes and cinemas, its Metro stations and underground garages, it is the city's display window, its meeting-place and promenade, the center of commercial life and a major traffic artery. It must be said that under the influence of traffic and hamburger bars the Gran Vía has lost much of its individuality and style. In particular the pulsating night life has during the 1980s shifted to the surrounding district.

The idea of driving a wide new street through the center of the city to link its eastern and western districts was first conceived in the 19th C., but the extensive demolition of older buildings required to make room for this modern "Main Street" began only in April, 1910. Whole blocks of flats and many of the narrow, winding and unhygienic lanes of the old town were destroyed to make possible the execution of the forward-looking plans of the City Fathers of the day. The first section of the Gran Vía was built between 1910 and 1920. This stretch still preserves the atmosphere of the 19th C., with buildings such as the Gran Peña (No. 2) and Ybarra (No. 8), or the one at the corner of Calle Clavel, which are vaguely reminiscent of Paris. The Telefónica Building, the tower block occupied by the telephone corporation, displays a very different architectural style.

From the Red de San Luis to the Plaza del Callao and from there to the Plaza de España the Gran Vía takes on a distinctly American character. To the W the mighty silhouette of the Capitol rears up like the prow of some great ship. On both sides of the street are buildings in the style of the 1920s and 1930s which give Madrid's "Broadway" its own unmistakable character.