The Edificio Grassy is a building located at 1 Gran Vía in

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 ...

, Spain.

Architecture

Situated just off

Calle de Alcalá Calle de Alcalá is among the longest streets in Madrid. It starts at the Puerta del Sol and goes on for , to the northeastern outskirts of the city. Henry David Inglis described it in 1837 as "long, of superb width, and flanked by a splendid rang ...

, at the very beginning of Gran Vía, the Edificio Grassy was built between 1916 and 1917. It was constructed on a triangular piece of land, in the same way as the Edificio Metrópolis next to it. Moreover, its architect Eladio Laredo aimed to achieve an architectural similarity between both of them. This trend was respected to a certain extent along Gran Vía. It comprises two independent buildings, which are joined together by the hall and the patio. Eclectic in its architecture, it boasts a

rotunda A rotunda () is any roofed building with a circular ground plan, and sometimes covered by a dome. It may also refer to a round room within a building (an example being the one below the dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.). ...

topped by two superimposed belvederes of

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

influence.

Nowadays

Since 1952 it hosts the upscale Grassy Jeweler's. Its basement also houses a museum of ancient clocks, with remarkable French, German and English items which span from the 16th to the 19th century, conforming an interesting private collection. The facade of the building is well known for its illuminated advertisements about different brands of watches. For the last decades

Jaeger-LeCoultre Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre SA, or simply Jaeger-LeCoultre (), is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer founded by Antoine LeCoultre in 1833 and is based in Le Sentier, Switzerland. Since 2000, the company has been a fully owned subsidiary ...

Audemars Piguet Audemars Piguet Holding SA () is a Swiss manufacturer of luxury good, luxury watches, headquartered in Le Brassus, Switzerland. The company was founded by Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet in the Vallée de Joux in 1875, acquiring ...

Piaget Piaget () may refer to: People with the surname * Édouard Piaget (18171910), Swiss entomologist * Jean Piaget (18961980), Swiss developmental psychologist * Paul Piaget (disambiguation), several people * Solange Piaget Knowles (born 1986), Ameri ...

and

Baume et Mercier Baume & Mercier () is a Swiss Luxury goods, luxury watchmaker founded in 1830. It is a subsidiary of the Swiss luxury conglomerate Richemont. History Baume & Mercier was founded as "Frères Baume" in 1830 by brothers Louis-Victor and Célestin ...

have enjoyed a preeminent position, easily distinguishable at the entrance of Gran Vía. Currently the sought-after location is occupied by a

Rolex Rolex () is a Swiss watch brand and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by German businessman Hans Wilsdorf and his eventual brother-in-law Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex ...

sign.

Facts

In 1981, the Edificio Grassy was immortalized by painter Antonio López in his hyperrealist masterpiece "La Gran Vía". A plaque placed at the entrance of the building facing to Calle del Caballero de Gracia informs that in spring 1840

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...

lived in this area.

References

External links

{{commonscat-inline, Grassy Building, Madrid, Grassy Building Office buildings completed in 1917 Buildings and structures in Cortes neighborhood, Madrid Gran Vía (Madrid)