Headquarters of the People's Party (Spain)

The Headquarters of the People's Party (Spanish: Sede del Partido Popular) are located at number 13, Calle de Génova in Madrid, Spain, at the corner with Calle Zurbano. In the Spanish media, "Génova" is used as a metonym for the national leadership of the People's Party.[1][2]

Protests outside the headquarters in 2013 relating to the Bárcenas affair concerning its illegal renovation payments

History of the site

The Calle de Génova – before 1886 known as the Ronda de Santa Bárbara or Ronda de Recoletos – was historically in the outskirts of Madrid, between two entrance gates that were built in the 18th century. These were the Puente de Santa Bárbara and the Puente de Alcalá, of which only the latter remains. The land that the building occupies was used as gardens by several convents in the area.[3][4]

Although the dates are uncertain, the first building on the site was the Palace of the Marquises of Bedmar dating from after 1872, as palaces began to be built on the street. Its first occupier may have been Manuel Antonio de Acuña y Dewitte, the tenth marquess, who was a member of the Conservative Party. Only a few photographs were made of the building. Though the documentation is scarce, the palace may have passed to Isaac Peral—inventor of the submarine—who sold it to Luis de Marichalar y Monreal, another Conservative politician. It remained the property of his family until 1977, when it was sold, demolished and the new structure built in its place.[3]

Modern building

Under the leadership of Manuel Fraga, the People's Alliance (which became the People's Party in 1989) took 25% of the vote at the 1982 Spanish general election, establishing itself as a force in national politics. The following February, the party moved from Calle Silva to this site; it was initially rented from the insurance company Mapfre and not bought outright until March 2006.[5] The fee was €37 million, or about 1 million Spanish pesetas per square metre over 6,000 square metres across seven storeys.[6]

The renovation of the headquarters in 2007 was the subject of the Bárcenas affair, in which it was proven that party treasurer Luis Bárcenas paid over €1 million to the renovation company without declaring it to the national treasury.[7]

In December 2014, Daniel Pérez Berlanga deliberately crashed a car filled with butane canisters into the entrance of the building. He claimed that his motive was "to call attention to what's happening in the country". He was imprisoned for five years and fined €40,000.[8]

PP president Pablo Casado unexpectedly announced in February 2021 a desire for the party to sell the building and move elsewhere, as a break with the past over scandals such as the Bárcenas affair.[9] A year later, his successor Alberto Núñez Feijóo halted the plan.[10]

References
  1. "Moreno afronta su reelección en el PP-A arropado por Génova y los barones" [Moreno embarks on his re-election in the PP-A supproted by Génova and the regional leaders] (in Spanish). Cadena COPE. EFE. 19 November 2021. Archived from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  2. Aliño, Carla (5 March 2015). "Alberto Fabra, el hombre puesto por Génova mantiene la confianza del PP" [Alberto Fabra, the man placed by Génova maintains the confidence of the PP]. La Razón (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  3. Casado, Diego (16 February 2021). "El palacio que ocupaba el solar de la sede del PP en Madrid" [The palace that occupied the site of the PP headquarters in Madrid]. ElDiario.es (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  4. Moreno, Alfonso F. (19 March 2015). "La «calle del PP» que da por sentado que Colón nació en Génova" [The "PP Street" that assumes that Columbus was born in Genoa]. ABC (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  5. Cruz Lapeña, Silvia (26 February 2021). "Los orígenes aristocráticos de Génova 13, la sede del PP que Pablo Casado quiere vender" [The aristocratic origins of 13 Génova, the PP headquarters that Casado wants to sell]. Vanity Fair (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  6. Barrón, Íñigo (31 March 2006). "El PP compra su sede por 37 millones con un préstamo de Banesto" [PP buys its headquarters for 37 million with a loan from Banesto]. El País (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  7. Marraco, Manuel (28 October 2021). "La Audiencia considera probado que Bárcenas pagó la reforma de la sede del PP con dinero negro y le condena a dos años de cárcel" [Audiencia considers it proven that Bárcenas paid for the renovation of the PP headquarters with dirty money]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  8. Marraco, Manuel (30 May 2016). "Cinco años de cárcel al hombre que estrelló su coche con explosivos contra la sede del PP" [Five years in prison for the man who crashed his car filled with explosives into the PP headquarters]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  9. Esteban, Paloma (16 February 2021). "Casado anuncia que el PP deja la sede de Génova para romper con el pasado" [Casado announces that the PP is leaving the Génova headquarters in order to break with the past]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  10. "Feijóo paraliza la venta de la sede del PP en la calle Génova de Madrid" [Feijóo halts the sale of the PP headquarters on Calle de Génova in Madrid] (in Spanish). Telemadrid. 18 March 2022. Archived from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
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