MAKERS OF A NEW MADRID

Hokitika Guardian, 26 April 1927, Page 4

MAKERS OF A NEW MADRID

(By N. G. (’arclozo). MADRID. Ala rob 1. The quaint narrow streets and curious by-w ays of old A! nil rid, which used U lead to cobbled sunlit squares with an idly-playing fountain surrounded by gossiping women with gay coloured shawls and great earthenware lints gracefully balanced on their heads, will soon have disappeared lor ever. For Madrid is being rebuilt and is fast becoming one of the finest capitals ul Europe. Throughout the city can lie heard the pick of the housebreaker. the chinking of cranes, the songs ol masons, and the c latter ot pneumatic hammers driving rivets into huge red girders. The new Gran \ in. which is to reach in time the Northern Station, is being pierced through the heart of old Madrid, and on ether side huge fifteen and sixteen storey buildings are rising against the skyline. A completed example ot this new form of architecture, which combines reinforced concrete, steel I rallies, and bronze and marble in lavish prolusion, is the fourteen storey Fine Arts (Tub. which stands in the Alcala, taring the Ministry ol War. la style it is partly American and partly German.

for comfort, however, the Spanish architects have gone to the great.

South American cities with their spacious ideas and their wealth of internal decora tun. The 1* ills- Arts ( lull is certainly one ul the largest clubs, ii not the largest in the world. It has dance rooms on two different Hours, a magnificent dining hall ol immense sir." on the twelfth Hour overlooking lhe w hole of Madrid, a cinema hall equal in size to the largest in l.ond in a theatre, and in the basement a swimming hath and Turkish baths. There are also gaming rooms, but llir-e are now deserted, as gambling lias Iven prohibited tv General Prim) de Rivera. The Spanish Telephone Company is also erecting a tnagnificent Imiloing which, with its great campanile towel', will resemble on a smaller scale one "I New York's skyscrapers, lit Afadrid skyscrapers, out of respect to the traditions of European architecture, me limited to about sixteen storeys. Nevertheless, they look verv imposing. Farther along the Gian Via, next to a line of great shops and office buildings, the new Press (Tub roars its fifteen storeys ol stool frame and reinforced concrete. All D'ese buildings are being erected at a speed which shows that in Spain tilings are not always put olf to the morrow. A new Madrid which is magnificent and imposing, even if occasionally the architecture seems somewhat (lurid, - fast rising out of the ruins of the old. The wealth of bronze and marble used in every building shows that money is certainly not lacking. And. indeed. an American I met here assured me that lie found the city the dearest, without exception, in the world. With a continuance of a wise and .stable administration modern Spain seems called upon once more to play a very important role in the world's affairs.