Plaza de la Puerta del Sol: It is one of the city icons, with a semicircular floor plan, where the historical and tourist streets Calle Mayor, Calle Alcalá, Calle Arenal and Calle Preciados merge. There are 10 streets that start at the square: Calle de Alcalá, Carrera de San Jerónimo, Calle Espoz y Mina, Calle de las Carretas, Calle del Correo, Calle Mayor, Calle del Arenal, Calle de Preciados, Calle del Carmen and Calle de la Montera.
Casas del Cordero: Located next to Puerta del Sol, on the plot where the Convent of San Felipe el Real used to be, the building was the first block of flats built in Madrid, between 1842 and 1845. It gets its name from the surname of the owner of the building, whose coat of arms is on the corner of Calle Mayor and Calle Esparteros.
Casa de Correos (Post Office): Built by the French architect Jacques Marquet (1760 - 1768) in the Baroque style of the time to be the main headquarters of the Post Office. Since the 18th century, different clocks at Puerta del Sol told the time to Madrid but not in a very accurate way, so in 1866 clockmaker Losada committed to creating a clock that would tell the city the exact time, and he handcrafted it in London. It is currently where the headquarters of the government of the Region of Madrid are.
Kilometre Zero: There is a plate indicating that distance in kilometres to the national motorways leaving from Madrid starts there.
Estatua del Oso y el Madroño (Statue of the Bear and the Arbutus Tree): A 4 metre high statue of about 20 tonnes of the elements of the city represented on the coat of arms.
Real Casa de Postas: At the beginning, it was used as a resting place for horses drawing the mail carriages. It also hosted the telegraph service facilities and the National Police headquarters under the name of Cuartel de Zaragoza, until it became property of the government of the Region of Madrid for administrative purposes.
Plaza Mayor: King Felipe III entrusted architect Juan Gómez de Mora with the remodelling of the old Plaza del Arrabal, that took place from 1617 to1619, where the popular market used to be at the time. It had beautiful façades and shops on the ground floor, but suffered several fires, the most important one in 1790 that forced its reconstruction. Juan de Villanueva’s alteration modernised the Plaza Mayor and gave it a French style, and in the mid 19th century it stopped being managed by the monarchy to belong to the City Hall. The Villa architects created a new space with the equestrian statue of Felipe III in the centre of the square. It became a place to stroll about, with gardens and the tram and coach terminal. In 1936, a project to get rid of the gardens and recover the image it used to have was initiated, but works stopped with the Civil War until the 1940’s, when they were resumed. In 1958 a more imperial concept was sought and in 1961 its image got closer to that of “Madrid de los Austrias”. In 1968, cars reached the Plaza Mayor, so an underground car park was built and the surface was paved with cobblestones.
Casa de la Panadería: Architect Gómez de Mora integrated the building of the Casa de la Panadería in the square, modifying its ground floor. It had a symmetric composition, with four levels and a porticoed ground floor, the last floor as a penthouse and with angular towers on the sides. In the fire of 1672, the Casa de la Panadería was burnt down and architect Tomás Román relied on painters Claudio Coello and José Jiménez Donoso for the reconstruction, who were in charge of the interior decoration and the frescos on the façade. Today it belongs to the Madrid City Hall and there is a tourist information office there.
Casa de la Carnicería: Located on the southern side of the Plaza Mayor, its exact construction date remains unknown, although it is believed that it was built after a big fire in 1631. It followed the style of the Casa de la Panadería, which was right in front of it. At the beginning it was the general meat warehouse for the Villa markets and in the 20th century it became the third Council House, with different City Hall offices.
Palacio de la Equitativa: It was built at the end of the 19th century by José Grases Riera as the headquarters of the insurance company La Equitativa. In 2012 it was declared Cultural Heritage Site.
Palace de Gaviria: One of the most luxurious palaces of the 19th century. It was built between 1846 and 1847 by architect Aníbal Álvarez Bouquel for the banker Manuel Gaviria y Douza, Marquis of Gaviria and Count of Buena Esperanza. Its aesthetics are influenced by the Italian Renaissance palaces.
