Qualifiers like “horror” and “shocking” call for demolition and especially many comparisons with Exin Castillos. The renovation of the Castillete del Retiro, a state building with two centuries of history north of the park, has been widely commented on (and criticized) on social networks.
An intervention that has been reported as representative of the lack of respect for heritage value in Madrid. The truth, however, is that it is a complex case in which the result is not so far from the state in which the property was before its deterioration, at least according to some experts consulted by this media and the owner entity: the State Agency. . of Meteorology (AEMET).
The organization defends itself on social networks: “It is a defensive architecture in origin. It was the first official headquarters of meteorology, and after a great abandonment and a very complex work that must respect the origin and the protected environment, it will be open to visitors to enjoy its interior, still to be finished. AEMET sources reaffirm these words in a conversation with Somos Madrid. They say they are “very surprised” by the criticism and defend that the process has been “respectful and prudent”, with the ultimate goal of creating “a museum that makes the history of the institution visible.”
“The only questionable thing is the maintenance of the bodywork added to the façade and the glass bodywork installed on the roof,” says Alberto Tellería, technical member of the Madrid Citizenship and Heritage Association, in statements to this newspaper. “This disfigures its appearance, preventing us from appreciating the ingenuity of the original design, similar to that of some European buildings of this style,” he adds.
Tellería attaches an image of the original appearance of the tower, built in the mid-19th century. “The objective should have been to recover it,” he believes, and not so much the appearance with which it was closed in the sixties.
For Jesús San Vicente, architect and president of the Madrid College of Architects NexoCoam group, in this type of intervention “it is necessary to compensate for the lack of air conditioning and accessibility that must be provided for by the regulations.”
Saint Vincent considers that the difficulty is “that these additions do not convey a sense of falsehood, which has clearly failed here.” He believes that those responsible should have opted “for brick rather than plaster for the façade, as originally.” He speaks of “excessive make-up,” compared to less heavy and more successful rehabilitations such as that of the Matadero Madrid. Finally, he emphasizes that it is “a building with integral protection, so it must be respected as if it were the cathedral of Burgos.”
Tellería, for his part, points out some problems from its conception that have not yet been corrected: “The castle dates from 1850-51, from the Elizabethan period, when the neo-medieval began but without much rigor, because there were few subjects studied and the architects They only received academic training in classical styles. That is why it looks like a toy castle, although at the time (judging by the contemporary engravings that I attach) the painting on the walls simulated a construction in ashlar that should somewhat mask this effect. It is understandable that without more information they did not dare to recreate it, although the smooth finish they gave it is just as false. Perhaps if they replanted the ivy that almost covered it once, something would improve.
The technical member of the Madrid heritage defence group, however, believes that this is a good opportunity to reverse some of the actions carried out on the property: “Over time, it has undergone a reform that has degraded it and that should have been eliminated; in particular, the façade added between the two towers, which was initially just a porch in front of the entrance, but which then extended to all floors, and which ended up erasing any resemblance to the medieval fortress that it was trying to imitate.”
The renovation of a building steeped in history and science
In 2021, the execution of the work nearing completion was approved, with a budget of 3.7 million euros from the Ministry of Ecological Transition to renovate it and transform it into a meteorological museum. The enclosure is much more than a simple curiosity within the park. The AEMET had its first headquarters there and was a pioneering scientific center of the first order during the second half of the 19th century and part of the 20th century. In 1997, it was proposed to transform it into a meteorological museum and in 2007, a building permit was granted to rehabilitate the building, but the project was never launched.
“Since its architectural value is minimal, the most interesting thing is that it shows us the taste of a certain moment, and we can consider that it was the last of the whims that populated the Retiro Park since the time of Fernando VII. ; But I think that with the additions mentioned above, it does not fulfill this function well,” says Tellería. However, specialists of the place like Mercedes Gómez on his blog Arte en Madrid They do not share this vision because it was designed “for non-capricious purposes.”
The Castillete, also known as the Telégrafo de la Elefanta or Retiro Castle, was probably designed by José María Mathé, head of the national telegraph lines. It was built to house an optical telegraph, the head of the Valencia-Barcelona line. The logic of the optical telegraph was to create a chain of towers with visibility between the points, so that each one repeated the message of the previous one until its destination. Optical telegraphy, which required a team of people to examine the towers from dawn to dusk to see if any of them changed color. position of attentionwas soon replaced by electric telegraphy, but many of its towers still remain throughout Spain.
After the decline of technology, new uses were sought for this unique construction, serving for a short time as a school of electric telegraphy and, later, as the headquarters of the Central Meteorological Institute, the historical germ of the current AEMET.
A castle for meteorology
The first steps of AEMET date back to 1887, when the Central Meteorological Institute was created by royal decree, which over the years has changed its name until reaching its current incarnation, a continuous source of information through its website and social networks. Its first director, Augusto Arcimis Werhle, proposed to the Ministry of Development to ask the Madrid City Council to transfer the optical telegraph tower of the Retiro, in which he installed some instruments that he had acquired during his travels in France.
On the ground floor of the tower were the barometers, the anemometers on the terrace, the thermometers in the garden and the rain gauges on its south facade, about 15 meters from the building. And the facilities included the land surrounding the tower, which was expanded. In 1913, 10,000 square meters of outdoor space were added and, over the years, new facilities were built.
It is a building with comprehensive protection, so it must be respected as if it were the Cathedral of Burgos.
Jesus Saint Vincent
— Architect and president of the Madrid College of Architects NexoCoam group
Daily measurements of pressure, temperature and humidity, evaporation, precipitation and wind were made. Observations that multiplied as the institution, which initially had only its director, recruited staff. In addition to the observation work, it was necessary to concentrate data from other stations in the country, to receive data from abroad and to develop maps and predictive bulletins.
The construction is also known as Torre de la Elefanta, a name that comes from the “Elefanta Bath”, a pond from the mid-19th century located near the Castillete. It was used to bathe these animals from the nearby Menagerie. Antonio Cabañas Cámara, meteorologist of the AEMET in Retiro, prepared a report in 2021 to request the recovery of the pond, in which first the animals of the zoo bathed and, later, the dogs of the people of Madrid. The place was left within the land attached to the meteorological body during the aforementioned expansion of 1913, undergoing a progressive abandonment until its definitive closure in 1965.
The walls of the elephant bath had been uncovered during work in the surrounding garden, but unfortunately they were buried again. During these earth movements, the cosmic pedestal used by the physicist Arturo Duperier to study radiation was almost definitively lost. The pillar and benches designed by the scientist for his experiments ended up in a container, but Cabañas himself was able to recover them damaged before they disappeared forever.
A story that shows that, despite the controversies, the Castillete also needs to be rehabilitated as a bearer of an intangible heritage: that of the history of science and innovation. The maintenance of this legacy will depend largely on the new museum project, an essential step forward to stop being something more than a curious (and controversial) property visible to pedestrians and walkers.
