This street block panorama depicts Madrid’s “Gran Via” street, which means “Great way”. This is the north façade of the street, from Callao Square to the square “Red de San Luis”, which was an old crossroad. The Gran Via is a broad avenue that was cut through the old town of Madrid during de second decade of the 20th century. This part is the second phase of the street, named “El Bulevar”, and was built between 1917 and 1927. In this sector, 125 lots and 4 streets disappeared, and over 13 other old streets were modified to find space for the new boulevard.
The building on the far left is the “Palacio de la Prensa”, which is a cinema since its completion in 1926. The white stone building which spans the whole fourth block is the “Madrid- Paris” building, which was built in 1924 and was the tallest until the Telefonica building was completed, in 1929. The Telefonica building, the last on the right, with a height of 89,30m, is considered the first skyscraper of Spain, and was its tallest building until 1953, when the España building was completed (it also can be seen in the picture, on the left side, far away).
