The Marquis of Salamanca
The Madrid of the late 1800's and early 1900's brought forth urban extension develooments to give way to ample avenues, making its propulsor, the influential engineer Marquis of Salamanca, a notorious figure of this time, in buisness, politics and nobility. Madrid was shifting from the old capital of an empire, to a modern city, with avenues and blocks distributed in form of evenly planned squares, in the image of New York or Paris.
Later on, with King Alfonso XIII, entire buildings are demolished in order to give way to Madrid's first great avenue as infered from its name, Gran Vía, year 1910, preparing Madrid, for the automobile era. On this main artery of the center, Telefónica Building, from 1927, 1st skyscraper in Madrid, main telecommunication company headquarters. From here, Alfonso XIII made the 1st transatlantic telephone call in Spain's history, precisely with Presidnet of the USA, Calvin Coolidge, whom responds to H.M.'s call from the Chamber of Commerce of Washington D.C. Alfonso XIII also inaugurates Metro de Madrid, the city's undergoround, the Line 1, in 1920, from Puerta del Sol to Cuatro Caminos on the boarder with Tetuán de Las Victorias. H.M. inaugurates as well, the Hotel Ritz de Madrid in 1929, first 5 star hotel in Madrid, resembling the Ritz Paris. In other province capitals, such as Seville, Alfonso XIII also was the propulsor of the palatial Hotel Alfonso XIII of Seville, near charming gardens of Maía Luisa and famous Plaza de España of Seville.