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The Telefónica building is located in Gran Vía number 28 in Madrid and it was constructed during

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three years since 1926 to 1929 by the architect Ignacio Cárdenas who used a neo-baroque style

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as well as new technologies and that's the reason for which he was so admired at that time.

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The Telefónica building was the tallest building in Madrid until 1953 when the building at Plaza

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España was constructed and the regulations of the city council in Madrid needed to be

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changed because this building exceeded the maximum height that was 35 meters at that time

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and nowadays the Telefónica building is the 16th tallest building in Madrid. The first public act

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that took place in the building was the first communication between Spain and the United States

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that put into contact the King Alfonso XIII with the president of the United States at that time

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on October the 13th of 1928. But the first inauguration, the official inauguration of the

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building took place the 1st of January of 1930 but six months earlier in July it began to be used.

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Two exchanges were put into operation one urban and one long distance which made it possible

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to serve 20,000 telephone lines and operated 24 hours a day and during the Spanish civil war

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due to its great height it was used by the popular republican army as a military observatory

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because it was the best observation point in the city. For this reason it was one of the objectives

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of the artillery action of Franco's army and later in 1992 the King Juan Carlos I

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inaugurated a reform of the building putting a cultural space and the headquarters of

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the Fundación Telefónica on the first four floors of the building.