The Madrid City Council is going to suspend for one year the works that may be carried out on the facade and the commercial premises at number 9 Calle Santa Cruz de Marcenado, in the Centro district, where a ceramic mural by César Manrique dating from the 1950s remains.
The suspension of works and the execution of activities on the facade and the interior of the premises will be approved this Wednesday at the Governing Board, and this will allow the development of a file that will establish the "most appropriate" protection regime to guarantee the preservation and dissemination of a ceramic work inspired by the world of construction that Manrique (1919-1992) made in 1954 commissioned by a company.
The mural, in which the passage of time is evident, occupies part of the facade of number 9 Calle Santa Cruz de Marcenado, but also goes into the interior of the premises, although this part of the work is not visible from the public road.
The Madrid City Council explains that the suspension that will be approved this Wednesday, which does not limit the actions that can be carried out in the rest of the premises as long as they do not affect the mural, will last for a maximum period of one year, and may be extended for another year, provided that the public information period of the planning for the protection of the work has been completed in this time.
Technical study after the request to protect the mural
The Urban Planning area has promoted this initiative after analyzing the content of historical documents and the study prepared by the municipal technicians of the General Planning Directorate.
According to the City Council, the artistic singularity of the ceramic mural has been valued in this process and an initial analysis has been carried out to determine if it is possible to fit it into any of the catalogs of assets contained in the current General Plan.
They add that these investigations have as their starting point a request made in 2022 by the painter Patricia Esquivias in which she urged to consider the inclusion of Manrique's work in the catalog of protected elements.
To make the request, the artist commissioned a report from Violeta Izquierdo, professor at the Complutense University of Madrid and expert in Manrique's work, who recently told EFE the need to preserve the mural, the only one by the artist from Lanzarote that remains at street level in Madrid, as part of his legacy.
Alternatives to protect the mural
The City Council highlights that, at present, number 9 Calle Santa Cruz de Marcenado is not included in the catalog of protected buildings, so its artistic value is specifically attributed to the mural.
The planning file must assess a possible inclusion of the premises in the catalog of commercial establishments, and it will also be assessed whether or not its transfer should be allowed for its better conservation and dissemination.
The mural is also not among the typologies that are defined for the catalog of public monuments and singular elements, although in 2003 the ceramic mural signed by Joan Miró located on the facade of the Palacio de Congresos in Madrid was included there.
That precedent would "open the door" for the file to recommend the inclusion of the César Manrique mural in this catalog.
Among the possible alternatives initially assessed, there was also the inclusion of the building in the catalog of buildings with partial protection motivated by the existence of the mural in the premises, with a compositional criterion independent of the rest of its facade.
However, this path, in the initial analysis, is not considered adequate or proportional and has no precedent in the city of Madrid.