Edificio Metrópolis, Madrid

Edificio Metrópolis is the office building whose rounded tower marks the meeting point of Calle de Alcalá and Gran Vía. Its design came from the French architect Jules Février, working with Raymond Février, and the building opened on 21 January 1911 for the insurance company La Unión y el Fénix. The façade gives you a theatrical combination of stonework, columns, sculpture and a rounded cupola.

That dome carries 30000 leaves of 24 carat gold, a detail that catches the light above the dark slate surface. Along the upper storeys, statues represent Mining, Agriculture, Industry and Commerce; at the foot of the dome is a sculpture by Mariano Benlliure. The building’s original crown was different.

La Unión y el Fénix removed its Phoenix and Ganymede statue when the company left, and it now stands in the gardens of Mutua Madrileña on Paseo de la Castellana 33. The replacement here is a winged Victory by Federico Coullaut-Valera. Look at the tower’s sculptural outline and the gilded cupola: this is Beaux Arts architecture, an unusually French expression for Madrid when Jules and Raymond Février created it.