One gets the feeling that Madrid has become more defiant over the years. I’m not saying that it has necessarily been beautifying, I’m saying that some elements of consensual ugliness (like scalextric cars) have been disappearing. And although there are a few beautiful buildings that we miss -the Fisac Pagoda, for example-, there are so many others that we are grateful that they are no longer with us.
And so many others that would justify the creation of a syndrome contrary to Stendhal’s syndrome.
More or less in that direction launched a question El Madrid desaparecido by Penny and Julio Gª Maldonado, one of the authoritative voices in X when it comes to talking about Madrid. It asked, “What are your favorite Madrid aberrations?”. And he started with the disappeared Atocha scalextric -another proof of Madrid’s talent and wit for renaming the elements.
From here on a curious thing happens, that the human being is so influential that sometimes does not notice the ugliness of something (it naturalizes and absorbs it as its own or usual) until it is said. There is a lot written about tastes, contrary to what is usually said, and not infrequently it is necessary to know the context of each thing to judge it in consideration.
The most aberrant buildings in Madrid
An example of this is the Torre de Valencia: what could be a polar star on a walk through the Retiro or a masterpiece of Madrilenian brutalism is also for several users one of Madrid’s aberrations.
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Alice Silver, whom we interviewed to talk about her favorite facades, suggests up to three sites: the Mercado de San Antonio, Almacenes Rodríguez and the Almacén de maderas de ronda de Valencia.
Another user, Celia, agrees with a passerby who we recently asked about her least favorite building in Madrid and refers to the black tower (Edificio Vallecas 20) which is in the Ensanche de Vallecas: “it makes me hot just to see it.”
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People’s proposals are falling all over the place, and neither the newest Madrid (the Santiago Bernabéu) nor the defunct one (the old Santo Domingo parking lot) are spared. Neither are spared symbols such as the Almudena (ugly inside and out for some) or the Plaza de Castilla or the monolith (ay, the monolith) of Calatrava or that patchwork garment that is the Plaza de Colón.
The proposals of people fall everywhere.
And neither the newest Madrid (the Santiago Bernabéu) nor the missing one (the old parking lot of Santo Domingo) are spared.
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