Teatro Apolo is a defunct theatre in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, Spain. It was located on Calle de Alcalá, at the site which is now number 45. Previously, the site was occupied by the Convento de San Hermenegildo, which was sold off in 1836 and demolished in 1870. Theatre construction occurred between 1871 and 1873, with a design by the French architects P. Chauderlot and F. Festau. It had a capacity of 2,500 people. The theatre opened on 23 March 1873 and featured the company of actor Manuel Catalina. A comedy playhouse, it went through difficult times in its early days due to its relative distance from the then city center and the high ticket price. The Apolo and the Felipe theatres were the most important venues for the ''

género chico Género chico (literally, "little genre") is a Spanish genre of short, light plays with music. It is a major branch of '' zarzuela'', Spain's form of popular music theatre with dialogue, and differs from ''zarzuela grande'' and most other operatic ...

'', a phenomenon which debuted in Madrid and featured one-act performances. The Apolo closed its doors on 30 June 1929 after it was purchased by

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (), better known by its initialism BBVA, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Bilbao, Spain. It is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, and is present ...

, which demolished the theatre in order to construct its Madrid headquarters. The site now contains a building which houses the Department of Finance and Administration of the City of Madrid. The Apolo's owners went on to build the Teatro Nuevo Apolo.

References

{{Coord, 40.4191, N, 3.6962, W, source:wikidata, display=title Commercial buildings completed in 1873 Event venues established in 1873 Former theatres in Madrid Calle de Alcalá Demolished buildings and structures in Madrid Buildings and structures demolished in 1929