La Casa Encendida is a social and cultural centre in central

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

(on the Ronda de Valencia where it is met by Calle Valencia). It began operations in December 2002. It belongs to the Fundación Montemadrid (the formal title of which is Fundación Obra Social y Monte de Piedad de Madrid), a social responsibility entity set up by the Spanish bank

Caja Madrid Caja Madrid, formally the Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Madrid, headquartered in Madrid,Inicio
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. Among its activities are avant-garde art exhibitions, and running courses and workshops on social matters, culture and the environment. The cultural programme includes performance art, film, exhibitions and other forms of contemporary creativity. It developed as a place which particularly supports young artists. The name ''La Casa Encendida'' ('The Burning House' in English) is taken from the eponymous book of the poet Luis Rosales Camacho, whose heirs gave their permission for its use.

History and construction of the building

It was designed by the architect

Fernando Arbós y Tremanti Fernando Arbós y Tremanti (22 October 1844, Rome - 18 December 1916, Madrid) was a Spanish architect; best known for the Iglesia de San Manuel y San Benito (Madrid), Iglesia de San Manuel y San Benito. Life and work He was born in Rome to the ...

and the first stone was laid on 1 May 1911. In its early years the building was used as the office of the bank Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Madrid (the formal name of Caja Madrid). It was known as ''El Monte'' ('The Mount') and also as ''La Casa de Empeños'' ('The Pawnshop') because the Monte de Piedad ('Mount of Piety') in Spain had been an institutional pawnbroker run as a charity (i.e. no interest was charged on its loans) until its merger with Caja de Ahorros de Madrid ('Savings Bank of Madrid') in 1869. The building is organized around a central courtyard. Its symmetrical facade is aesthetically novel when compared with other banking buildings of the period. The facade blends brick and granite using a mixture of

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

and

Neo-Mudéjar Neo-Mudéjar is a type of Moorish Revival architecture practised in the Iberian Peninsula and to a far lesser extent in Ibero-America. This architectural movement emerged as a revival of Mudéjar style. It was an architectural trend of the late 19 ...

styles.

Gallery

File:Roller Disco Party en la Casa Encendida.jpg, A

roller disco A roller disco is a combined discothèque and Roller rink, skating rink, where attendees are encouraged to participate in roller skating while dancing, or to observe skilled dancers from the sidelines. Quad skates and (more recently) inline skate ...

-themed event, 2011 File:Casa Encendida (Madrid) 04.jpg, The

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

, pictured in 2015 File:Patio de La Casa Encendida.jpg, A 2019 journalism event at La Casa File:Terraza de La Casa Encendida.jpg, The Terrace, photographed in 2019

Links

Official La Casa Encendida website
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Fundación Montemadrid website
�� {{DEFAULTSORT:Casa Encendida Madrid Cultural centers in Spain Buildings and structures in Embajadores neighborhood, Madrid Art museums and galleries in Madrid Bank buildings in Spain Culture in Madrid Entertainment venues in Madrid Performing arts in Spain Mounts of piety Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in Madrid Italianate architecture Neo-Mudéjar architecture in Spain Arts organisations based in Spain