The headquarters of
Casa de América is located in the historic
Palacio de Linares, in Plaza Cibeles. Its construction began in 1872 for the residence of the Marquis of Linares, although before it housed the old Silver Mills and the Royal Farm.
Its clean architecture, the work of
Carlos Colubí, Adolf Ombrecht, and
Manuel Aníbal Álvarez, keeps an interior rich in lamps and bronze from Paris, glass from Antwerp, carpets from the Royal Tapestry Factory and the Guilds Foundation, and a select collection of paintings of artists of the stature of Francisco Pradilla, Manuel Domínguez and Alejandro Ferrant, among others.
Since 1992,
Casa de América has aimed to strengthen ties between Spain and the American continent, especially with Latin America. Different activities are organized that seek to promote a suitable climate to talk about American issues and make the different realities of that continent known in Spain.
- Context
The palace was built for the Marquises of Linares on land that they had bought from the Madrid City Council in 1872. It is conceived with great luxury according to the aesthetic and social criteria in the vertiginous and changing modernist Madrid, which those of decadent Europe include and baroque. The building was a material reflection of the influence and fortune of its owners and was the richest among those built-in Madrid at that time.
- Stages of construction
The
Palacio de Linares was built in two stages. The first began in 1872 and ended in 1884. The decoration of the first phase is given at the same time as the construction, so it is evident the abundant mix of styles that met in the building throughout the various rooms palatial.
In the first phase of the construction of the Palace, around 1872, the direction was developed by
Manuel Aníbal Álvarez, also the author of the designs for the main staircase, overlooking the garden, the closing gate, and the fountain. Álvarez would influence the marquis to use Carrara marbles instead of those from Madrid, usually used in his mansions by nobles and wealthy in those days.
The second period takes place between 1884 and 1890. This year was when the decoration works of the Palace rooms were practically finished. The detail underlines the lengthy and complex construction process.
The palace, located at the intersection of Recoletos, Cibeles, and the new Puerta de Alcalá, intensified the peaceful competition between nobles and confirmed the character of that area, popularly already known as "the bankers' neighborhood", given the social extraction of its most significant inhabitants.
During the Franco regime, the building was kept in a state of abandonment that left it in a deplorable state, to the point that already in 1977 the Academy of Fine Arts authorized its demolition. Finally, it was decided to keep the palace standing, and it underwent intensive rehabilitation between 1988 and 1992.
- Special features
Despite its stony appearance, the material that makes up the floor of the hall, from which the staircase can be seen as a whole, is wood. It deceives the care of its dark tonality and its arrangement, in the manner of a paving stone that introduces a section of the street into the palace. This is how you access the main staircase of the Palace, one of the stellar corners of the building.
The main staircase, made of Carrara marble, not counting the balustrade and the external part of the decoration, was sculpted in a single piece, that is to say, there are no cuts between the steps. This magnificent piece was made by Jerónimo Suñol.
All the sculptures and bronze pieces that are located in the
Palacio de Linares were brought from Paris, since the marquis was a very cultured person, passionate about art, painting, sculpture, among others and that is why he traveled a lot. In those trips, he carried out orders for the decoration of the Palace.
The decoration tasks began in 1878, although they did not respond to a systematic execution plan, an abundant mixture of styles that were brought together in the building is evident, due to a large number of artists requested to paint and decorate the various palatial rooms.
In the
Palacio de Linares, every detail is taken care of to the maximum expression. From knobs with the initials or shields of the Marquis, original carpets and tapestries that imitate the decorations of the wooden floor in each room, paintings that reflect the use and function of each room or the disposition of the rooms according to the use of the time.
