Casa Sindical

The Casa Sindical (the "Syndical House")^[1] is a building in Madrid, Spain. It currently hosts the headquarters of the Ministry of Health of Spain.

Casa Sindical
General information
Location	Cortes, Madrid
Address	Paseo del Prado, 20
Country	Spain
Construction started	1949
Completed	1951
Inaugurated	27 October 1955
Height	60 m
Technical details
Floor count	16
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Francisco de Asís Cabrero Rafael de Aburto

History

The contest guidelines for the draft project, convened by Fermín Sanz Orrio, the then national delegate of trade unions of FET y de las JONS, were published in April 1949.^[2] The project was finally entrusted ex-aequo to Francisco de Asís Cabrero and Rafael de Aburto.^[3] Finished in 1951,^[4] some dependencies were opened in July 1955, taking advantage of the celebration of the III National Congress of Workers.^{[5][n. 1]} It was formally inaugurated by Francisco Franco on 27 October 1955.^[6]

Description

Located in front of the Prado Museum, it features a central prismatic 16-floor brick tower,^[7] that reaches a 60-metre height.^[8] The landmark symbolically marked the acceptance of modern architecture by the Francoist regime in terms of architectural language, straying away from previous traditionalist aesthetics.^[9] It has often been linked to the works of Italian Fascist architect Giuseppe Terragni.^[10]

Notes

1. José Antonio Girón de Velasco, the Falangist minister of Labour, declared then 'this modern and arrogant tower, claims to the 4 poles of the horizon that the "Movement" is in movement'.^[5]

References

1. Muñoz-Rojas 2009, p. 347.
2. Rovira 2001, p. 149.
3. González Capitel 1999, p. 75.
4. "Casa Sindical de Madrid". Docomomo Ibérico.
5. Amaya Quer 2010, pp. 121–122.
6. "S. E. el Jefe del estado inauguró ayer la nueva sede de los Sindicatos españoles". La Vanguardia. 28 October 1955.
7. Amaya Quer 2010, pp. 121–122; González Capitel 1999, p. 75
8. "Hoy será inaugurado el nuevo edificio de la Delegación Nacional de Sindicatos". ABC. Madrid: 45. 27 October 1945.
9. Canosa Zamora & García Carballo 2016, p. 423.
10. López Díaz 2014, pp. 248–249.

Bibliography

• Amaya Quer, Àlex (2010). El acelerón sindicalista: discurso social, imagen y realidad del aparato de propaganda de la organización sindical española, 1957-1969. Carme Molinero Ruiz (Dir.). Bellaterra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
• Canosa Zamora, Elia; García Carballo, Ángela (2016). "Madrid Km 0. La intervención franquista en la construcción de algunos paisajes simbólicos de la capital". Estudios Geográficos. LXXVII (281). Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas: 415–442. doi:10.3989/estgeogr.201613. ISSN 0014-1496.
• González Capitel, Antón (1999). "Las décadas oscuras: arquitectura de Madrid 1941-1960" (PDF). Arquitectura de Madrid, siglo XX. Madrid: Tanais. pp. 72–101. ISBN 84-496-0078-2.
• López Díaz, Jesús (2014). "El papel del fascismo y el falangismo en la recepción de la modernidad en la arquitectura española contemporánea". Anales de Historia del Arte. 24. Madrid: Universidad Complutense de Madrid: 237–252. doi:10.5209/rev_ANHA.2014.v24.48703.
• Muñoz-Rojas, Olivia (2009). "Falangist visions of a neo-imperial Madrid". Journal of War & Culture Studies. 2 (3): 335–352. doi:10.1386/jwcs.2.3.335/1. ISSN 1752-6272. S2CID 145481193.
• Rovira, Josep Maria (2001). "El Edificio de la Delegación Nacional de Sindicatos" (PDF). DC. Revista de crítica arquitectònica (5–6). Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona. ISSN 1887-2360.

Links

• Media related to Casa Sindical, Madrid at Wikimedia Commons
• Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo at Fundación Arquitectura COAM webpage

40.413411°N 3.693969°W / 40.413411; -3.693969