I love to take you back to my wonderful dear Madrid. Another soft spot in my heart and always come back to it, lucky me. I have written many posts on my dear city and you can tell my inclination for it. It never cease over the years since that day I came upon it in 1971. The City has many memorable spots since youths days and continue to this retiree guy, I like to tell you on the Westin Palace Hotel of Madrid !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
In my rounds by Madrid I have stayed in many hotels over the years but some more memorable than others, I had these between the lines of other post and decided to give them a post of their own , for memories’ sake, This is my nostalgic tour of these hotels,
The Westin Palace Hotel ,the hotel of my business conference and all was a treat, a glamorous entry into my historical Madrid. A classic amongst the classics of Spain.
The Westin Palace, better known as Hotel Palace, is a luxury hotel with façades overlooking the Plaza de Canovas del Castillo. The hotel was built by a Belgian hotel company at the suggestion of king Alfonso XIII. The hotel has 400 rooms and used an innovative material called wire cement. It was built in 15 months opening on 12 September (my bday!) 1912. At the time of its construction this was the largest hotel in Europe. Today it is part of the Marriott group , before passing by the Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.
The Hotel Palace had another innovation to have telephone service on each room; the four main halls were the salones Medinaceli, Neptuno, Cortes and Francés. The winter garden was originally designed in 1910. This space has natural light during the day. Around this area are located on the outskirts of lounges and restaurants.
It began to offered brasserie or cerveceria service (beer hall) called “La Brasserie”. The brewery is in the basement and was very popular at the time as it offered German beers such as Löwenbräu (München) and Genossenbräu (pilsen beer from Bohemia). These brewery brought to Spain an innovative transport method in refrigerated wagons from their origins. The La Brasserie, from 1923, will be converted into the black American orquesta Jackson Rector’s Club and made popular the first sessions of jazz in Madrid.
The arrival of the Spanish Civil War made a reduction in clientele and the hotel was converted from July 1936 in the embassy of the Soviet Union for several weeks. The rest of the hotel was occupied by workers committee until November 1936, after the War Ministry saw the pull back of its troops in the south axis decided to change it into a blood hospital called “Hospital de Base número 1 ;it had installed almost 800 beds in all six floors. On October 1 1939 it was revert back to its hotel functions. During the coup d’état attend of February 23 1981 the Palace Hotel served as refuge by the means of communication, the subsecretaries of the government, and the military elite as the hotel is very near the parliament or Congreso de los Diputados, taken by the rebels.
So , lots of history indeed, I was there in the 5th floor, with superb luxury service, great food, and awesome drinks, a moment never to be forgotten and of course I was the city guide from visitors from all over the world lol !
The official Marriott Westin Palace Hotel: https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/madwi-the-westin-palace-madrid/overview/
The Madrid tourist office on the Westin Palace Hotel: https://www.esmadrid.com/en/accommodation/the-westin-palace
There you go folks, another wonderful story post on my dear Madrid ; come to see it for more than the buildings, and you will be glad your read my post. Again, hope you enjoy this post on the Westin Palace Hotel of Madrid !!! as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 