Neighbors with History
The founding of the district: Convento de los Agustinos Recoletos.
Photo: Convento de los Agustinos Recoletos or the Convento de Copacabana (1592-1837), whose south side stood along what is today more or less the area between calle Villanueva and calle Gil de Santivañes between the Paseo de Recoletos and calle Serrano.
Palacio de José Campo (today known as Edificio Restaura)
Photo: Palacio de José Campo (also known as the Palacio de Ramón Calderón) J.Laurent. Madrid (1865?). National Library Archive.
Drawings: Palacio de José Campo. End of 19th Century. Front and side elevation (Villanueva side)
Photo: Photograph of the Palacio de José taken from the Paseo de Recoletos. End of 19th Century.
In the above photos, the old Palacio de José Campo, also known as the Palacio de Ramón Calderón, and today, the Edificio Restaura. It was built in around 1860 and occupied the corner of Paseo de Recoletos/calle Villanueva (where in the background more buildings can be seen, to the left of J Laurent’s photo).
See below the building today:
National Library
Photo: Laying the first stone of the National Library. Madrid, 1866.
The photograph taken by Conde de Lipa depicts the laying of the first stone of the National Library. In the background, we can see the site of the area of the calle Gil de Santivañes and calle Villanueva with the Palacio de José Campo at the forefront and the other buildings that today occupy numbers 6-12 of the street.
Photo: National Library ca. 1904. Calle Villanueva sits to the right. From the magazine “La Ilustración Artística”.
Photo: 3D View of the National Library and the calle Gil de Santivañes today.
Real Pósito de Madrid
Photo: Buildings of the Pósito de Madrid, mid-19th century. To the right, the calle Alcalá. Calle Gil de Santivañes, which has yet to be traced out, will be on the left.
La Aurora Building: To the left, the old Palacio de Ramón Pla Monje, which has today been converted into the insurance building La Aurora at the corner of the Paseo de Recoletos/Calle Salustiano Olózaga, on the old site of the Pósito de Madrid.
Photo: Palacio de Linares (centre) and Palacio de Ramón Pla Monje (left). Madrid (1905) - Hauser & Menet - Memoria de Madrid, Public Domain
