Palacio de Gamazo, Madrid, Neoclassical palace in Justicia district, Madrid, Spain.
The Palacio de Gamazo stands at Calle Génova 26 in Madrid, on the site of the former vegetable garden of the Convento de las Salesas Reales. Designed by Ricardo Velázquez Bosco in 1886, it is a traditional casa palacio whose facade combines grey stone with red exposed brick. Its three sides face Calle Génova, Calle del Marqués de la Ensenada and Calle Orellana, next to Plaza de la Villa de París.
The palace was built in 1886 under architect Ricardo Velázquez Bosco and originally served as the residence of Count Gamazo. Its construction occurred during a period when Madrid was modernizing its urban landscape with grand private mansions for wealthy families.
The building was declared a national historic-artistic monument on 2 March 1978, after a partial demolition in the 1970s caused a scandal in cultural circles. Architecture students barricaded themselves inside to stop the demolition, and the building was saved. Today it is the headquarters of the mutual insurance company Previsión Sanitaria Nacional, which bought it at auction in December 2016.
The palace can be viewed from outside by walking through the streets of the Justicia neighborhood, where its architectural features are clearly visible from street level. Visitors exploring the area should allow time to examine the facade details as they pass by.
In the mid-1970s the palace was nearly ruinous and demolition had begun; architecture students barricaded themselves inside, halting it. The partial demolition caused a scandal in cultural circles, and on 2 March 1978 it was declared a national historic-artistic monument. In 2016 it was auctioned for 45 million euros to cover civil liabilities from the Afinsa stamp case, and that December Previsión Sanitaria Nacional bought it as its head office.
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