Casa de Las Siete Chimeneas

This is one of the few examples of 16th century civil architecture still standing in Madrid. It was designed and built between 1574 and 1577 by architect Antonio Sillero for Pedro de Ledesma, secretary to Antonio Pérez.

In 1586, Andrea de Lurano undertook the first extension, giving the stately house a rectangular plan and adding a hip roof finished off with seven chimneys. The house owes its name to those chimneys which are also the object of several legends according to which the seven elements represent the seven capital sins. According to another ancient belief, Philip II’s illegitimate daughter was locked away in the house and her spirit continues to haunt it today.

In the 18th century, the house’s new noble occupants demanded certain modifications, including the construction of an annex to give the house an L-shape plan. Back then it was also home to the famous Marquis of Esquilache, whom the people of Madrid rebelled against in 1766. During the 19th century it accommodated several banks until it was declared a Historical-Artistic Monument in 1948 and was reformed again in 1957 by architects Fernando Chueca Goitia and José Antonio Domínguez Salazar.

Since 1980 it has housed the Ministry of Education and Culture, having been declared a Site of Cultural Interest in 1995.