Located in the heart of the Gran Vía, close to Plaza de Callao, the Music Palace was built in 1926 with the intention of becoming a cinema and concert hall. Its owner, the Sociedad Anónima General de Espectáculos, entrusted the construction of this building to the Basque architect, Secundino de Zuazo Ugalde, coinciding with the creation of Madrid’s Gran Vía.
Due to its mixed use, Zuazo was inspired by the layout of American cinemas, without creating the traditional horseshoe layout surrounded by Italian-style theatre boxes”. Its façade is classicist, standing out from the typical Sevillian Baroque style of the interior.
In 1932, it suffered a fire that destroyed its stage. Following its restoration, it opened in 1933 just as a cinema. After the Civil War, between 1942 and 1956, it combined film screenings with concerts by the Spanish National Orchestra. In 1982, the theatre was divided into two cinemas until it closed on 22 June 2008. A year earlier, in 2007, the building was acquired by the Cajamadrid Foundation to restore and return it to its original use as a concert hall.
Eleven years later, in 2020, Madrid City Council gave the go ahead for the Montemadrid Foundation to begin the process of restoring the property, respecting all of its original elements, as it s fully protected.
In June 2025, Fundación Montemadrid sold the building to the Swiss group Zephyros, which will be responsible for renovating the building in the coming years and turning it into a new cultural space.
