Francisco de Cubas y González-Montes (13 April 1826 – 2 January 1899) was a Spanish architect and politician. He was also known as the Marquis of Cubas (Marqués de Cubas) after his noble title, the marquisate of Cubas. He was also from 1894 the Marquis of Fontalba.

Life

He was born in Madrid in 1826. He studied at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura 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 ...

and obtained scholarships that allowed him to complete his studies in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Upon his return to Spain in 1858, he won a medal at the National Exposition of 1858. A member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando from 1870, he worked as an architect while also pursuing a political career as a member of the

Cortes Generales The (; ) are the Bicameralism, bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house) and the Senate of Spain, Senate (the upper house). The Congress of Deputies meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, ...

(as a deputy or diputado), en 1893, as the senator representing

Ávila Ávila ( , , ) is a Spanish city located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m a ...

between 1896–98, and, he served as

mayor of Madrid The Mayor of Madrid presides over the Madrid City Council, the government body of the capital city of Spain. The mayor has the duty of boosting the local policies, it directs the action of the other executive bodies, leads the Local Executive Adm ...

for a month (November 6, 1892 – December 1, 1892). His work represents some of the most well-known of 19th century architecture of Madrid, and his style is noted for its use of brick and his works in the

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

and

Historicist Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...

styles. His work includes the Jesuit college known as the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Recuerdo, the

University of Deusto The University of Deusto (; ) is a Spanish private university owned by the Society of Jesus, with campuses in Bilbao and San Sebastián, and the Deusto Business School branch in Madrid. The University of Deusto is the oldest private university ...

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

, and the National Museum of Anthropology in Madrid. It also includes the Palace of Arenzana (today the French embassy) in Madrid and the Church of Santa Cruz in Madrid. His most famous work is

Almudena Cathedral The Cathedral of Saint Mary the Royal of the Almudena, commonly known as the Almudena Cathedral, is a Catholic cathedral in Madrid, Spain. It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Madrid. Its construction began in 1883 and finished over a century l ...

, begun in 1883. The original plan had been to create a parochial church. Francisco de Cubas revised this plan, deciding instead to create an imposing Neo-Gothic cathedral, the style popular at that time, especially due to the influence of Viollet-le-Duc. This project was later modified significantly: work on the cathedral encountered delays due to economic difficulties, and later the style was modified to a Neoclassic style, in line with the nearby Palacio de Oriente (Palacio Real). More representative of Francisco de Cubas’ vision is the Castle of Butrón in Gatica, in the Basque Country. He married the noblewoman Matilde de Erice y Urquijo in 1860. They are both buried in a chapel of the crypt of the Cathedral of Almudena.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cubas, Francisco de Politicians from Madrid Architects from Madrid Mayors of Madrid 1826 births 1899 deaths 19th-century Spanish architects Marquesses of Spain