Salamanca
Grid-planned aristocratic quarter of grand nineteenth-century boulevards, boutiques, and a bankrupt founder's unlikely legacy.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Madrid's Salamanca neighborhood centers on José de Salamanca, a financier who made a fortune betting on stock panics and railway deals, and his plan in 1860 to build the wealthiest quarter the capital had ever seen on empty fields beyond the old city walls. It follows his wide boulevards and modern apartment blocks along Calle Serrano, complete with running water and heating unheard of elsewhere in Madrid, and the buyers who refused to leave the city center for them. Best heard strolling Calle Serrano itself, past the boulevards Salamanca laid out for a Madrid that wasn't ready for them yet.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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