La House of Pérez Villaamil It is an excellent example of modernism in Madrid, the second in antiquity, after the Longoria Palace de Jose Grases Riera, converted since 1950 into the General Society of Authors of Spain. It is located in the neighborhood of the letters, at number 12 Plaza de Matute.

Since its initial design, the building has always been intended for housing. A whim of the engineer Enrique Pérez Villaamil, who reserved the top floor and the attic for his private residence, a duplex, at a time when duplexes did not exist.

It is the work of the architect Eduardo Reynals and Toledo, who we could consider a visionary, a precursor along with Grases of modernism in Madrid. Designed in 1906, it was completed in 1907.

For this work Reynals chose the art nouveau style, a Franco-Belgian trend of modernism from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work is highly recognized and due to its quality, it is compared with other prominent buildings of European modernism. I especially like his integrative vision of architecture and the decorative arts and the direct allusions to the work of Victor Horta.

Being located in an area, between Atocha and Huerta, with many tourists, very close to the Plaza de Santa Ana, it often attracts attention and stops to better appreciate the beauty of the façade.

On that very elegant façade, we can see plant motifs and appreciate the rounded and asymmetrical shape of the balconies.

The bars on the door hide an interior with frescoes of floral motifs on the walls, magnificent stained glass windows and the forging of beams and lanterns that illuminate each floor. The sculptor's work Salvador Llongarríu gave shape to the floral decoration. The blacksmith Jose Garcia Nieto He did the same with the artistic forge and the cabinetmaker, Antonio Maldonado, did the carpentry work.

They say that their collection of stained glass windows is the best in Madrid; probably no other residential building has ones of such value. They are on the stairs, windows, screens, doors, and as it could not be otherwise they are of the Maumejean House, like the great dome of the Las Cuadrigas building, the Church of Saint Teresa and Saint Joseph or Military Casino, another exhibition of art nouveau in Madrid.

In short, an excellent example of Madrid modernism that helps us to claim that there is modernism not only in Barcelona.

A abrazo.