• Operation save the Puerta de Alcalá 3D drones, seven-ton sculptures and 100 technicians for its rehabilitation

On that distinguished main entrance of the palace, where a century ago posed the best of society, appear today, as a warning, a collection of posters with the recognizable logos of two private security companies. Next to its wrought iron railing appeared, for example, Leandro Teresa, who was the mayor of Carabanchel Bajo, then another town in Madrid, and not one of the 21 districts of the capital that since 2019 governs José Luis Martínez-Almeida.

Its façade, resplendent after that reconstruction executed by Secundino Zuazo, illustrious architect of the time, and author, for example, of Nuevos Ministerios, has housed for years strident multicolored graffiti. His glamorous wall of the past is now a humble wire fence lined with a green tarpaulin, also a victim of sprays. With difficulty, in its torn frontispiece survive letters in relief that make up the registration of a construction with sumptuous past, disheartening present and, for the moment, non-existent future: Goicoechea Isusi Foundation. 1924.

Publication on the former asylum for labour invalids.E.M.

This long-lived building rests on the same point where it germinated, in the twilight of the nineteenth century. It was built as a three-storey hotel, with its stunning garden. An area close to 3,000 square meters. Doña Ramona Goicoechea Isusi acquired it to turn it into an "Asylum for Invalids of Manual and Intellectual Work", as the chronicles of the time recall. The Goicoechea Isusi Foundation would be renamed the Castresana Foundation and the building, closed in the 80s, would be bought by a society. There is no pedestrian who goes down General Ricardos and refuses to turn his head curiously. To let your imagination fly over the history that encloses the walls of that town that, despite its obvious decline, does not hide its stately bearing. Although the fire of the Civil War punished Carabanchel (almost half of the buildings were razed), his figure remained standing.

"There is an interest in selling it"

In the neighborhood of Carabanchel they wonder why every day that passes the heartbeat of the palace is perceived more subdued. Many of the answers are in an office on Velázquez Street, where the filing cabinets of Tercia Residencial S.L., the limited company that owns the property, are housed. Who kindly attends GRAN MADRID remembers that, just four years ago, they were about to sell it to the City Council of Manuela Carmena for 2.5 million euros. It is no secret, since these intentions were published after the last Plenary of the legislature, as part of the Financially Sustainable Investments (IFS) of that year. After its acquisition, it would be destined for public use. "There was a meeting in 2019 and even two technicians checked that the documentation was correct. But after the elections everything changed, "details the interlocutor. The current municipal government considered that the project was not economically viable. More than for the price of the farm, for the expensive rehabilitation it demanded, with an amount equal to or higher than the price of the enclosure. The position has not changed in the Palacio de Cibeles after these four years, as municipal sources slip to this newspaper.

The courtyard of the palace of Carabanchel.C. G.WORLD

The owners of the palace explain that they acquired it with the intention of opening a residence, but that after 10 years they lost interest in the disbursement that entailed. That, during this time, apart from that frustrated purchase by the previous Consistory, there have been private proposals, and even purchase options have been signed that have not reached anywhere. "Obviously, there is an interest in selling it. However, the protection that the property has complicates the operation a lot, "they admit. Because since the General Urban Development Plan of 1997 was finalized, the villa has a level 2 of protection that, in a way, is proving a burden, since it implies that any restructuring has to respect the smallest detail of its original appearance. These difficulties have thrown back several aspirants, willing to continue with that endowment vocation of the enclave, on that buildable area of about 1,500 square meters. A case that has many similarities with that of Villa Menchu, in the district of Ciudad Lineal.

"Without the props, it could fall apart"

The old Goicoechea Isusi Foundation was squatted for years, so now its windows and doors are boarded up with bricks, and a private security company watches over its integrity. Its owners, forced to keep the asylum as curious as possible, explain that they have had to clean the plot on more than one occasion because people threw everything there, "even mattresses", turning it into a kind of small landfill. Sol, the architect of the society, details that the building is propped up inside and that every six months it must pass a review: "Without those interior struts, it could collapse." That, despite the devastating blow of the storm Filomena, they did not find any leak inside. And, also, that although it is now architecturally stable, it is dangerous to work inside: "Perhaps a lower level of protection on the property would facilitate everything."

Main access of the palace. C.G.MUNDO

The building has a record of ruin, but it cannot be touched. Not without respecting its main lines, and that façade (smeared with graffiti) that passers-by in General Ricardos continue to look at with curiosity. Some, in their happy pilgrimage to the adjacent pizzeria. From the Consistory insist that the graffiti should not be there, since the owner has the obligation to clean up the façade. The hope of the owners is because, when the elections of May 28 are held, they can sit down to talk with someone responsible for the City Council in order to find a solution. "Its expensive rehabilitation throws anyone back," lament the owners.

Memories pile up between the partitions of that cracked memory of Carabanchel in danger of extinction. His centuries-old path and the protection it carries can become his condemnation.

  • Articles Carlos Guisasola
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