Circulo de Bellas Artes, as seen from Calle de Alcalá

The area around the Bank of Spain was in 2009 the ninth census block in the region in 2009, with a GDP of 1.819 million euros. With 1.543 residents and 19.549 jobs (9^th census block by jobs number in the region), the ratio was 12 jobs per resident.

It is a clear urban core for many reasons, although with a slight “institutional” bias. The area has its “own” national bank, the lower house of the national Parliament (Congreso de los Diputados), an outstanding cultural center in the Círculo de Bellas Artes, the Thyssen- Bornemisza museum, a wide array of businesses, a good bunch of restaurants… The area is crossed by the initial part of the Calle de Alcalá, as iconic as a street can be in Madrid.

Up to the XIXth century it was rather a border zone, as all the area around the Paseo del Prado. By floor area, the current buildings where built in the XIXth century (6%), from 1900 to 1936 (22%), from 1940 to 1980 (22%), 1980 to 2000 (28%, it is good to remind that to the Spanish cadastre the integral refurbishment of a building resets its building date), and since 2000 (9%).

On slightly more than 24 hectares (streets included) and 167 lots there is a little more than 840.000 sq m of floor area (3,4 sq m/sq m FAR), of which 132.363 correspond to 1.211 dwellings (94 refurbished partially since 2000). 317.335 correspond to offices, 76.829 to hotels and restaurants, 71.825 to parking spaces and 37.797 to retail.

Offices

Housing

The sidewalk cafe of the Círculo de Bellas Artes

The angle between calle de Alcalá and Gran Vía

The same intersection as seen by day form the rooftop terrace of the Círculo de Bellas Artes. This is where Antonio Lopez painted his well known picture on Gran Vía (an interesting video on the process can be seen on the Spanish TV site)