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Palacio de Hielo y del Automóvil

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Palacio de Hielo y del Automóvil

Palacio de Hielo y del Automóvil, Beaux-Arts building in Centro district, Madrid, Spain

The Palacio de Hielo y del Automóvil is a reinforced-concrete building on Calle de San Agustín with a French Renaissance facade, one of the first in Madrid to use that material. Inside, the ground floor held a 55 by 28 metre artificial ice rink, surrounded by a Louis XVI-style salon, changing rooms for both sexes and reading rooms in a hypostyle arrangement.

Belgian hotelier Georges Marquet commissioned the building in 1920, making it one of the first structures in Madrid to employ reinforced concrete construction. The structure later transformed from a recreation venue into a scientific research institution.

The building's name links two uses: an artificial ice rink opened in 1922, and the Cámara del Motor y del Automóvil later installed on Calle San Agustín. The rink hosted Spain's first hockey league match on 18 January 1923, between Club Alpino Español and Real Club Puerta de Hierro; Azul Hockey Club won the title that February.

The building stands at the corner of Calle de San Agustín in the Cortes neighbourhood, a short walk from the Hotel Palace and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. It has been empty since 2007 and is closed to visitors while rehabilitation for the museum's second site is prepared, with completion expected around 2032. The French Renaissance facade can be seen from the street.

This structure was one of the first in Madrid to offer ice skating, making it an exotic novelty for the city at that time. This innovation drew people eager to experience modern leisure activities becoming popular across Europe.

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Location
Location
Location
Architects
Edmond De Lune, Gabriel Abreu Barreda, Fernando García Mercadal, Pedro Muguruza, Miguel Fisac, Ricardo Fernández Vallespín
Architectural style
Beaux-Arts
GPS coordinates
40.41501,-3.69617
Latest update
October 31, 2026 19:53
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« Palacio de Hielo y del Automóvil - Beaux-Arts building in Centro district, Madrid, Spain » is provided by Around Us (aroundus.com). Images and texts are derived from Wikimedia project under a Creative Commons license. You are allowed to copy, distribute, and modify copies of this page, under the conditions set by the license, as long as this note is clearly visible.

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