Hotel Mediodia was built in 1914. It was founded during a prosperous intellectual and cultural period of time of the city.
Hotel Mediodia architecture of French influence is typical of the zone. Its monumental facade resembles the French-Belgian tendencies of the early century. Its Parisian neoclassic style heightens the solemn palatial hotel look, so effective at that time.
Culture was growing all around the area where Hotel Mediodia would be erected later on; for instance, the space where Paseo del Prado is currently located, and most particularly the area between Puerta de Atocha and Cuatro Fuentes, remained a tree-lined avenue until the XVIII century.
But the authentic arising of Paseo del Prado as an urban frame of the city of Madrid, did not occur until the reign of Carlos III when it was divided in three parts called San Fermin, San Jeronimo and Atocha.
The construction of the Museum of Natural Sciences commissioned by Carlos III himself, did also contribute to reform and embellish Paseo del Prado. The initiative, that would last throughout the reign of his son, would be interrupted by the War of Independence until the arrival of Fernando VII who finalized works and accomplished compilation of relevant sculptures and pictorial works that made possible to inaugurate the Museum in 1812.
In the first decade of the century, remarkable buildings of clear French artistic influence were built also by Alfonso XIII with the intention to embellish the city of Madrid. |