Jerónimo de la Gándara (1825–1877) was a Spanish architect who designed a number of public buildings during the reign of

Isabella II of Spain Isabella II (, María Isabel Luisa de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904) was Queen of Spain from 1833 until her deposition in 1868. She is the only queen regnant in the history of unified Spain. Isabella wa ...

Biography

Jerónimo de la Gándara was born in 1825 in Ceceñas, Cantabria. He was a student of Antonio de Zabaleta. In 1848 he graduated as the first in his class from the Special School of Architecture of Madrid. He undertook further studies in Germany and the United Kingdom, and traveled throughout Europe. He was the first Spanish architect to gain first hand knowledge of the ruins of the Parthenon of Athens, making a drawing of their plans. In 1853 Jerónimo de la Gándara became a teacher at the Madrid School of Architecture, where he became a Professor in 1855 and held academic positions until 1873. Gándara was a member of the commission that investigated Spanish monuments and reported their findings in the major illustrated book ''Monumentos arquitectonicos de Espana'' published by the state in 1859, with text in Spanish and French. In this role, he was involved in excavations, exploring ruins in central Spain that predated the

Al-Andalus Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...

period, some from the time of the emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

and his successors. He resisted pressure to attempt to move ancient mosaics to Madrid from the site in which they were found due to the great difficulty of preserving them intact.

Works

In 1845 Gándara and Aníbal Álvarez Bouquet remodeled the facade of the Senate building. He designed the

Teatro de la Zarzuela The Teatro de la Zarzuela is a theatre in Madrid, Spain. The theatre is today mainly devoted to zarzuela (the Spanish traditional musical theatre genre), as well as operetta and recitals. History The theatre was designed by architect Jerónim ...

in Madrid, which was undertaken by José María Sánchez Guallart and opened on the birthday of Queen Isabella II in 1856. It provided a venue for "Zarzuela Theatre", which combines spoken scenes with scenes where the performers sing and dance. The original building burned down in 1909, but Cesareo Iradier later reconstructed it. The theater followed the Italian tradition, with a horseshoe-shaped hall containing three levels of boxes. In 1857 he designed the Palace of the Marquis de Viluma, which opened in 1859. Jerónimo de la Gándara was the architect of the Lope de Vega Theater, Valladolid, which was inaugurated on 8 December 1861. The facade, restored in 1920, is in the classical style. It has two levels, each with three arches, and a pediment that holds a medallion with the likeness of

Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...

sculpted by

Ponciano Ponzano Ponciano Ponzano y Gascón (19 January 1813 – 15 September 1877) was a Spanish neoclassical sculptor. A prolific artist, in his day he was highly esteemed. His work is now largely forgotten, although it can still be seen in many public locations ...

. In 1864 he built the pantheon of Manuel Beltran de Lis, Minister of Finance of Isabel II, in the cemetery at the Sacramental de San Isidro. Another major work is the Teatro Calderón de la Barca in

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

. One of the largest theaters in Spain, it was designed in an eclectic neo-classical style. The Calderón opened in 1864. In 1867 he constructed the Spanish pavilion for the Universal Exposition of Paris in a strictly Neo-Plateresque style.

Gallery

File:Teatro Lope de Vega.jpg, Teatro Lope de Vega, Valladolid File:Teatro Calderon.jpg, Teatro Calderón de la Barca in Valladolid

References

;Sources * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gandara, Jeronimo de la 1825 births 1877 deaths 19th-century Spanish architects