2023-08-05 14:24:56
Much has been written about the irreparable losses that occurred as a result of the Civil War. The most repeated figures are half a million dead and half a million exiles, which meant a great demographic loss for Spain. It also included an important part of the active and young population and the scientific, literary and artistic elites.
The economic catastrophe, moreover, was great. National and per capita income did not recover the 1936 level until the 1950s, more than a decade after Franco’s victory. The industrial fabric was completely destroyed and it was necessary to return to an economy based mainly on agriculture. There was also an increase in the external debt and a loss of the gold reserves of the Bank of Spain, which had been used by the Government of the Republic to pay for Soviet aid.
In 1941, a Falange report sent from Alicante to the new Franco regime warned: «The situation is frightening, we have the entire province without bread and without the possibility of acquiring it. Bread has not been rationed for more than four months, let alone other products. In the province we would all be corpses if we had to eat from the rationing of the Supply Delegation ».
One aspect that has been talked about less is the destruction of homes, which are estimated at around 250,000. Only in Madrid, in the first year and a half of the conflict, 39% of the protected properties (3,178 of almost 8,000) suffered significant damage, according to a report by the Ministry of Public Works of the Republic. To these must be added another 219 semi-destroyed and 146 completely destroyed.
“Civilian architecture and more than half of the churches were destroyed by artillery or national aviation because they were strictly military objectives or, more frequently, because they stood between those who attacked and those who defended,” explains historian María Andrés. Urtasun, in his book ‘Lost architecture. Madrid (1931-1939)’ (And Editorial, 2017). And among all those who disappeared forever in the capital, these five impressive historical buildings stand out:
Madrid Model Prison
Construction began in 1877 and was inaugurated in 1884. Its name was given to serve as a model for future prisons in other provinces. In Spain it was also an example of panoptic architecture and was made up of a series of “radio cell galleries that come together in a central roundabout that allows the entire building to be monitored from there without the need for a lot of personnel”, according to what can be read in the archives.
In 1936, the impressive Cárcel Modelo building had everything necessary to be one of the most important forts of the Civil War, with a perfect tower as an observation point from the Ciudad Universitaria front. However, it did not last long, because before the end of the year it was already completely destroyed. At the end of the war, the new Francoist government demolished what was left and built the headquarters of the Air Force on the same site, the same one that currently presides over the Moncloa square. The foundation stone of the latter was laid in 1943.
Velazquez House
The House of Velázquez, before the Civil War abc
The House of France in Madrid, popularly known as the Casa de Velázquez, was also built near the Ciudad Universitaria. Specifically, on a Moncloa estate in the 1920s. It was a large Spanish Baroque-style palace, with a square plan and towers, organized around a beautiful large central patio. In its construction, the portico of the old Oñate palace, from the 17th century, was used, which was ceded by the Spanish Government to serve as a monumental entrance here.
But this one also had the bad luck of being smack in the middle of the university front and suffering irreparable damage. At the end of the war it was completely destroyed and was abandoned for years. When World War II ended, the French government paid for the reconstruction of the building with a remnant of funds that had been left over from the reconstruction of their own country, but it underwent so many changes that it was nothing like the original.
Alfonso XIII National Institute of Hygiene
National Institute of Hygiene Alfonso XIII ABC
Its origin is found in the Alfonso XIII Institute of Suerotherapy, Vaccination and Bacteriology, which was founded in 1899 in the center of Madrid. This institution was created as a result of the various cholera epidemics that had broken out in Portugal and Italy that same year. The center depended on the Government and its director was the Nobel Prize winner for Medicine Santiago Ramón y Cajal, in charge of directing studies and research on microbiology, serum therapy and vaccines, as well as producing serums and vaccines and teaching future doctors.
To prevent the spread of possible infections and diseases, in 1910 a Neo-Baroque palace was built in Ciudad Universitaria to house it. At the outbreak of the war, however, the area became one of the main fronts and the building was soon completely destroyed by bombs. In the 1950s, the José Antonio Residence Hall was built on the same site where it was located, which was reformed at the end of the 1960s to become the current rectory of the Complutense University.
Church of Good Success
The Church of Buen Suceso, in Madrid, before its destruction J. Laurent
The original church of Buen Suceso was located in Puerta del Sol, but it was moved to the confluence between Princesa and Quintana streets in the 1860s. It was there when the Civil War broke out in July 1936, in the early days of which days it was already sacked and burned, to later convert it into an important militia headquarters. Its religious function was closed, of course, but the hospital it also housed was left in operation. That was, however, his death sentence, since the historic building quickly became the target of Franco’s troops.
In the first bombardment of November, the left side was destroyed and, 15 days later, several projectiles hit the building squarely, leaving it damaged. At the end of the conflict, “financial interests slowed down his recovery,” Urtasun says in his book. The ruins of the church remained on the site until it was restored in the 1940s, but in 1975 it was finally completely demolished. Years later, a third, much more modern version of the Buen Suceso church was built a few meters from there, which had nothing to do with its predecessors.
Fronton Recoletos
Fronton Recoletos de Madrid, in 1935 ABC
The Frontón Recoletos, located in front of the National Library, was built on Calle Villanueva, in 1935, by the engineer Eduardo Torroja and the architect Secundino Zuazo. At the time it was one of the most outstanding designs of the first. But the most curious thing about the matter is that it was inaugurated in February 1936, just five months before the outbreak of the Civil War. The archives highlight above all “the laminar roof that covered it, a unique structural prodigy in its time.”
During the conflict, the building suffered several direct hits from projectiles that opened holes in the roof. That and the strong vibrations from the shelling caused landslides that caused it to buck and crack. As the damages during the war could not be repaired, the ruin occurred with the partial collapse. In 1942, Torroja presented a study on the technical causes of its collapse and the works that would be necessary to recover it, but the poor state of the work prevented its completion before the total collapse occurred. In 1973 the demolition of the pediment building was carried out and a block of flats is currently being built in its place.
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