The Emperador Hotel is located in Madrid's Gran Via, which this year celebrates its 100th anniversary.
This classical but fully renovated building dates from 1948, when the American film premières were the talk of the town. Gran Via won the heart of many because of its vitality, a fusion resulting from the street’s traditional but cosmopolitan air – Ava Gardner, Gary Cooper and Ernest Hemingway, among others, were all got to know firsthand this unique mixture of “Broadway” and “Fifth Avenue”.
After the post-war period, in the 50s, the street became more festive, characterized by the shop windows displaying the first sales or the bar Perico Chicote, the centre of the capital’s nightlife.
Although it was generally known as Gran Via by 1886, the street was not officially given this name until the 1980s, when the City Council, under Enrique Tierno Galvan, substituted it for Avenida de Jose Antonio.
100th Anniversary of Madrid’s Gran Via
During this period, the Emperador Hotel was the centre of society life – the property’s services including its own cake shop – and one of the places to go for the typical Madrid stew. Nowadays, the hotel, which preserves the cultural and artistic spirit of yesteryear, accommodates and caters to different personalities.
The hotel’s facilities, including 232 guest rooms and 12 meetings rooms, as well as a lobby bar, hairdresser’s, gym, souvenir shop and an impressive roof terrace with a swimming pool – affording guests marvellous views of Madrid – perfectly reflect the history and development of one of city’s most emblematic streets.
The Emperador Hotel has also decked itself out to celebrate Gran Via’s 100th anniversary, participating in a large number of functions organized by Madrid City Council and different mass media, which have been held recently owing to the proximity of 4th April:
The hotel has served as the location for the filming of a video clip in which Ariel Rot & The Cabriolets perform a version of a typical chotis, with the aim of promoting the capital. Likewise, the property will host a number of TV programmes, such as Telemadrid’s “Madrid a la última”, and radio shows, like Punto Radio’s “Protagonistas” with Luis Olmo, and prestigious trade magazines, including Condé Nast Traveller.
Along these lines, the hotel has leant it facilities with views of Gran Via to recreat a photograph taken by Francesc Catala Roca in the 1950s. The work of this well-know Catalonian photographer was characterized by the search for original shots, its human essence. The contemporary photo will appear in the next number of EsMadrid Magazine, published by Madrid City Council. Happy anniversary, Gran Via!
