Falangist visions of a neo-imperial Madrid (original) (raw)

Madrid versus Barcelona: Two Visions for the Modern City and Block (1929-36)

ATHENS JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURE, 2015

Unique in this situation is the fact that those Spanish architects built, at the same time than the master plan for their respective city, an experimental housing blockthe Casa Bloc (1933-1936) in Barcelona and the Casa de Las Flores in Madrid (1929-32)-whose urban and architectural characteristics concretized their conception of the modern city. The paper argues that, even though their respective visions of the city and blocks strongly differed in urban form and architectural language, they both embodied a particular Southern approach to the modern city and urban life, which contrasted with contemporary examples in Northern Europe. The master plans were not implemented, but the buildings, damaged or mutilated after 1936, have been renovated or reconstructed. They remain as two exceptional references in the short history of modernism in pre-Civil War Spain, as well as continuous sources of inspiration for contemporary housing in Spain.

Shifting Modern Identities in Madrid’s Recent Urban Planning, Architecture and Narrative

Cities, 2003

Compared to some major urban centers in Spain that have successfully participated in the fierce competition over cultural capital since the 1980s (such as Barcelona, Seville, or Bilbao), Madrid seems not so much to look outward to the international community to sell its image but to more reflectively construct and critique life, on the periphery of what was previously the center of an extremely centralized state. The power to build and shape Madrid during the 1980s and 1990s often found inspiration in the more disposable and ephemeral forms of culture circulating in its immediate environment, just as cultural forms and cultural content drew directly from the desire to represent human reactions to this urban setting. The conservative Partido Popular has taken credit for the positive urban reforms of the Socialists and criticized them for the failures, while giving Madrid over to the car and abandoning the progressive social housing policies of earlier years, which were based on rational Modernist planning and the political possibility of the Modernist project. Much recent literature and film about Madrid focuses on the resulting ideological, political and economic shifts.

The Conquest of Modernity: Madrid, 1880-1936. An Applied Study of the Southwest of Madrid’s Old Town - Introduction

The Conquest of Modernity: Madrid, 1880-1936. An Applied Study of the Southwest of Madrid’s Old Town - Introduction

2 perception of the naked eye, the Madrid of 1910 was immersed in a profound process of change, which would accelerate furthermore. This statement is proven when watching the second film. Taken around 1935, the first difference noted in relation to the above is the intensification of road traffic in the streets of the city. An upheaval of cars, trucks, and double-decker buses have taken over the road traffic. The number of trams has increased dramatically, circulating at much higher speeds with large advertisements placed on their roofs. Animal-drawn vehicles have become a residual sight alongside the recording. Just a hansom cab crossing Puerta del Sol, turned into an anthill of people, and a carriage, drowned in a sea of cars, driving up Calle de Alcalá, can be seen in the film. Some workers go biking and, in the middle of heavy traffic, several traffic lights are distinguished at major intersections as well as the typical white hemispherical hats of the traffic controllers, who direct the traffic with the rapid movements of their arms. The Metro entrances and a spectacular view of the city from an airplane flying over the skies of Madrid, remind us that the fuss of traffic also occurs underground and by air. In this last scene, the skyscrapers of Gran Via can be seen, rising majestically amongst the houses of the old Madrid. The newsstands expose to the public countless newspapers for sale, just as the large shopfronts display the latest developments. The streets are extremely lively and full of business, giving the impression of a modern and cosmopolitan city, where stiff collared shirts, ties, and floppy hats have become the usual clothing for the majority of men, while women wear below knee-length dresses and hairstyles akin to that of the actresses from that time period. These two films show the amazing development of urban activity and profound transformation of Madrid society over a period of time that represents the final phase of the modernization of the city, which began in the mid-nineteenth century and was violently interrupted by the drama of the coup d'etat of July 17-18, 1936, the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, and the establishment of the military dictatorship of General Franco. The sharp sense of acceleration of historical tempo that emerges from the analysis of these two films is the most prominent feature of the period studied by this thesis. This acceleration began to unravel in the mid-decades of the nineteenth century, with the implementation of large public works that would exert a decisive influence on the future of the Spanish capital. Upon the waters of the Lozoya River reaching Madrid after the construction of the Canal de Isabel II, and the arrival of the railroad at the gates The Conquest of Modernity: Madrid, 1880-1936. An Applied Study of the Southwest of Madrid's Old Town 3 of the city in the 1850s, the expansion of Madrid as a large city became unstoppable. Further contributions, including the demolition of the city wall, that surrounded the urban perimeter since 1625, and the start up of the Ensanche, which allowed the city to expand beyond its historical boundaries, transformed forever the traditional appearance of the Spanish capital. With a guaranteed water supply and a means of transport that enabled direct and fast access to major ports and industrial centres, Madrid was allowed the possibility of Special mention must be made to the contribution of the research group "History of Madrid in the Contemporary Age", directed by Luis Enrique Otero Carvajal, from the Complutense University of Madrid. The research carried out for a decade by this group of historians, to which the author of this thesis belongs, has led to an extensive scientific and academic contribution in the form of communications, articles, books, and five doctoral theses which have resulted in a major advance in the historical knowledge of contemporary Madrid. 63

Spanish Identity, between the Center and the Periphery. The Role of the History of Architecture

Dieciocho: Hispanic Enlightenement, 2020

, the Noticias de los arquitectos was published in Spain. This book in four volumes constitutes the foundational work of Spanish architectural history. Begun by the politician and intellectual Eugenio Llaguno around 1768, it was significantly augmented and completed by Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez between 1800 and 1829. The connections between this work and the emergence of Spanish national identity cannot be understated. Its protracted writing process and the singularity of its double authorship make the Noticias de los arquitectos a direct witness to the evolution of thought in Spain during the six crucial decades in the formation of the idea of nationhood in Spain, leading to the political embodiment of Spanish nationalism after the Peninsula War. While nationalisms have by definition their own particularities, Spain is unique in this regard, in that its nationalism sprung partly from the feeling that it had been marginalized from the rest of Europe, and relegated to its periphery. The main impulses of national sentiment were on the one hand, the foreign critique of Spain and its culture, encapsulated in the "Black Legend," and on the other, the perception within Spain of its own decline, and consequent sensitivity to these critiques (García Cárcel, La leyenda negra 130-162). In other words, during the Enlightenment, Spain was viewed from both within and without its borders as a part of Europe's periphery. This led to an extraordinary historiographical effort during these decades to demonstrate Spain's contribution to European culture to both foreigners and Spaniards alike, and thus allow it to regain a central role within Europe. Spanish intellectuals understood that it was necessary to counter these 1 This research was conducted in the frame of the project "Hacia Antonio Acisclo Palomino. Teoría e historiografía artísticas del Siglo de Oro" (HAR2016-79442-P), founded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity. A first draft of this paper was presented at one of the two panels on Peripheral Identities in the Hispanic World, which was part of the ISECS International Conference on the Enlightenment, held in Edinburg in July 2019, where I expounded some of the results of my PhD dissertation. I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Yvonne Fuentes, who organized and coordinated both panels, for her initiative and for giving me the opportunity to participate.