Town Planning Reforms Made in the Historical Town of Guadalajara in the Late 19th Century and Early 20th Century Analyzed Through the Cartography of the Spanish Geographic and Statistical Institute

Abstract

Regardless of prior settlements, the town of Guadalajara was founded during the Muslim rule with a clear defensive role. Its original settlement gradually expanded and took shape according to the different emerging functions.

The town kept the medieval character of its layout until the 19th century. However, when most of its religious buildings disappeared, the town underwent many planning reforms that largely determined today’s layout of the historic centre. This paper studies the significance of the cartography created by the Spanish Geographical and Statistical Institute (Instituto Geográfico y Estadístico) headed by Ibánez Ibero on the town of Guadalajara between 1878 and 1880, as a documentary source to research the evolution in the town’s architecture and urban planning. Given the solid reliability of this cartography, its value is extraordinary and may also be used to validate or challenge many other documents that complement it. This paper includes specific examples of the findings from this research.

1 Introduction

The town of Guadalajara was established with a clear defensive role. It was re-conquered by King Alfonso VI and later became one of the largest towns in Castile. Its Royal Fortress (Alcázar Real), of which there are few but very interesting remains, was home to the king and queen and therefore drew many noble families to the town.

After the Reconquest, the town was split into ten parishes, each with its own church. In the Middle Ages, the town also had four convents and other religious buildings.

In the 15th century, many noble families took up residence in this town and the town’s religious role grew, leading to the building of another six convents in the 16th century.

Although the nobility moved to Madrid in the 17th century, a further four convents were built in Guadalajara (Núñez de Castro A 2003). Besides the parish churches and convents built, there were many other foundations of religious entities in the town, including chapels, hospitals and schools. These took up large areas and lent the town a conventual character (García Ballesteros A 1978, pp 81–82, 91–94).

Based on its location and the functions carried out in this town over the centuries, Guadalajara evolved over time, but did not lose the medieval character of its layout.

The town began to fall into decline in the 17th century but still, as mentioned above, another four convents were built. The War of Spanish Succession hastened this decline. Despite the attempts to revitalise the town, with the opening of the Royal Cloth Factory (Real Fábrica de Paños) among other initiatives, it failed to recover the population levels reached in the 16th century. The Peninsular War forced the closure of the factory, and a large of the hamlet was destroyed and its population fell dramatically.

On account of this population decline, in 1831, five of its ten parishes were eliminated and another one disappeared a few years later, leaving only four of its ten medieval parishes.

This century was also witness to the seizure and sale of Church property that forced the abandonment of most convents in the town (Layna Serrano F 1943).

2 Urban Structure

Guadalajara was founded in a ravine by the River Henares. The location was chosen for defensive purposes and gradually spread southward, with no natural barriers to prevent its expansion.

Guadalajara’s layout in the 16th century is known thanks to the view drawn by Anton Van der Wyngaerde in 1565 (Fig. 1). The town consisted of a hamlet with small buildings, and none of these stood out, not even the churches, except for their towers. In this hamlet, streets were determined by the spaces left between the different blocks of houses and squares were formed by the small widening of streets at crossroads.

In the 16th century, the original medieval layout underwent some reforms, such as the extension of the Plaza Mayor square and the creation of new spaces opposite the Palace of El Infantado (Palacio de los Duques del Infantado) and the Palace of Cardinal Mendoza.

The town grew and evolved over the centuries, adjusting to its new emerging functions (García Ballesteros A 1978).

The town’s fall into decline began in the 17th century, but was especially damaged in the War of the Spanish Succession. The opening of the Royal Cloth Factory began a new era of modest splendour, but this was curtailed by the Peninsular War.

Spain was then divided into provinces and Guadalajara became the capital of one of these provinces. At this time, the political-administrative function and the incipient industrialisation became the town’s main purposes and this drove a new, albeit meek, revival. (Baldellou MA 1989 pp 20–21).

2.1 Cartography by the Geographical and Statistical Institute

In order to learn about the urban structure of Guadalajara and understand how the town planning evolved, it is essential to study the maps preserved in addition to other sources (Maza Vázquez F 2008). Among all those documents, it is worth mentioning, the “Plano de la Ciudad de Guadalajara y sus arrabales” (Map of the town of Guadalajara and its outskirts) created by the Spanish Topographical Brigade of the Corps of Engineers in 1849, the map created by Francisco Coello in 1860 (Fig. 2) and, especially, the land survey of the town of Guadalajara made in 1880 by the Spanish Geographical and Statistical Institute, run by Ibáñez Ibero (Fig. 3) (Trallero Sanz AM 2018).

Fig. 1.

Antón Van der Wyngaerde. View of Guadalajara. 1565.

Fig. 2.

Guadalajara E: 1/10.000. Francisco Coello. 1860.

The land survey of the town of Guadalajara made by the Spanish Geographical and Statistical Institute is a collection of extremely precise maps drawn at a scale of 1/1000. These maps, based on the town’s topographic survey, show all its streets and blocks and include the ground plan of many public buildings.

Fig. 3.

Guadalajara E: 1/1.000. Map 3. Spanish Geographical and Statistical Institute. 1880.

Fig. 4.

Guadalajara E: 1/1.000. Map 3. Spanish Geographical and Statistical Institute. 1878.

Along with these maps dating back to 1880 (Fig. 3), which divided the town into four 1:1000 scale maps, there is also a collection of earlier documents from 1878, that were also drawn at a scale of 1:1000. These documents contain the data collection maps (Fig. 4) that gather triangulations, heights and other data. In connection with these documents and drawn at a scale of 1/500, there is a set of ground plans of the public buildings with their different rooms included in the final cartography.

This collection is particularly relevant given its excellent level of detail and, especially, its reliability, as it allows us to compare them to other earlier, later or current maps. It also shows us the planning transformation experienced by the town, especially in the 19th century, on account of the religious shifts. Moreover, with the additional support of other documents that are mostly graphic, we can explore further into some of the buildings that no longer exist (Trallero Sanz AM 2017, pp 18).

3 Transformation of Guadalajara’s Layout. Town Planning Reforms

The dramatic decline of the town’s religious function caused a significant impact. The elimination of most convents and all but four parishes meant a great loss to the town’s architectural heritage, but also boosted the appearance of land portfolios that were used to expand the town as it adapted to its new administrative and industrial purposes. Furthermore, this enabled town planning reforms that changed the appearance of the town.

Also, the new sanitary laws that were first passed in the 18th century materialised in 1837 with the building of a cemetery and had a great impact on the new urban structure of Guadalajara.

3.1 Squares

Studying the current layout of the old part of Guadalajara, it is surprising to see such a vast amount of small squares and the way today’s layout revolves around those spaces.

Some of these squares came from town planning, e.g. the Plaza Mayor, Plaza de Santa María or the Plaza del Palacio de los Duques del Infantado squares. Whereas others, such as the Plaza de Santo Domingo square, responded to the need for sufficient space to carry out a certain activity. In this case, the town required a place for trade fairs or markets and this was found outside the town walls. Other squares were once small medieval squares formed at crossroads, but we also observe the presence of squares that had their origin in the decline of the town’s religious function.

The need to bury “in sacred land” and the limited space inside the temples drove the town to seek outdoor spaces for the burials. This gave rise to small parish cemeteries scattered across the town (Trallero Sanz, A.M. 2021). However, with the disappearance or relocation of many parishes and the newly implemented sanitary laws, the town was forced to build cemeteries outside the towns and these became public spaces Cuadrado Prieto, M.A./Crespo, M.L. (2006).

As an example, the map created by the Spanish Geographical and Statistical Institute shows Santa María Church, the only medieval parish that keeps its original location. To the right of this church, we find a square sitting between the temple and the Palace of Cardinal Mendoza. This square was renovated by the Cardinal himself. To the left of the church is a public space that, judging by the remains found, was once a parish cemetery. San Miguel parish used to stand near Santa María Church, but all that is left of this parish is its chapel called Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles or Luis de Lucena chapel. Next to this chapel we now find a square that was built on part of the San Miguel parish cemetery.

There were many town planning reforms after the partial or total demolition of religious buildings. The most important one took place on Calle Mayor Baja street. Below are some of the most significant.

3.2 Calle Mayor Baja

By the time the Spanish Geographical and Statistical Institute drew up the maps of Guadalajara, many parishes had already disappeared and the convents had been seized and sold. Nevertheless, these maps still manage to provide a sufficiently accurate view of the layout of Calle Mayor Baja street which, together with Calle Mayor Alta street, makes up the axis of the historical town.

Heading out of the Plaza Mayor square was a narrow alley with an arcade that then widened out into the former Plaza de San Andrés square, which was first used for burials (Cuadrado Prieto MA, Crespo Cano ML 2006). When the land survey took place, the temple of San Andrés had already been demolished after losing its status as a parish (Trallero Sanz AM 2017, pp 92–95) and had been replaced by two blocks of houses.

From San Andrés square, the street headed on to the Plaza de la Fábrica square, a wide space next to the old cloth factory and the Palace of El Infantado, after passing by the Plaza de Santiago square -another space that was first devoted to burials- and along the side of this parish temple.

In 1898, Baldomero Botella, official architect of Guadalajara, drew up a project to reform the alignment of this street with the crossroads with other streets (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5.

Project to reform the alignment of Calle mayor Baja street and the crossroads with other streets. E:1/150. Baldomero Botella. 1898.

The new layout of this street was possible thanks to the demolition of the temple of San Andrés, whose square was incorporated into the new design. But it was also possible thanks to the seizure, sale and subsequent demolition of the Santa Clara Convent. The convent area located between one end of the temple, where the choir used to sit, and the old street, was affected by this new alignment and the remaining land was used to build the town’s main hotel using the old convent’s doorway as its entrance.

Santiago Church opposite the Palace of El Infantado had already been partially demolished, as shown in the drawings of the city made by Jenaro Pérez Villamil in 1837, but was later demolished in order to complete the new layout of the street.

Santiago parish had been spared, but the seizure and sale of Santa Clara Convent meant that the parish was moved to the convent after the temple was handed over to the town.

Demolishing Santiago Church enabled the expansion and regularisation of the old Plaza de Santiago square. The remaining space was then joined to the Plaza de la Fábrica square and was used to build the new side façade of the Palace of El Infantado (Trallero Sanz AM 2015), (Trallero Sanz AM 2017 pp 100–107).

3.3 Calle de Santa Clara Street

At a right angle to Calle Mayor Baja street, between San Andrés Church and Santa Clara Convent, lay the old Calle de Santa Clara street. Ibáñez Ibero’s map shows Calle de Santa Clara street as a narrow alley, except for the crossroads with Calle Mayor street, that runs between Santa Clara Convent and La Piedad Convent, which was also seized and sold.

To gain space for the widening of this alley, the town demolished the chevet of La Piedad temple, which was a magnificent example of Renaissance architecture designed by Alonso de Covarrubias, as well as other areas of the convent (Trallero Sanz AM 2020, pp 6–9).

After these partial demolitions, Ricardo Velázquez Bosco planned renovations for the building to provide it with modern façades, but did not work on the semi-demolished church.

The widening of the street allowed by the partial demolitions of La Piedad Convent, the new façades built on it and the new buildings erected after the demolition of Santa Clara Convent, entailed a complete makeover of this street.

3.4 Plaza de Moreno Square

In 1879, Guadalajara’s Regional Government put out to tender the building of its new seat to be built on the land left by a demolished mansion on Plaza de Beladíez square, opposite the former Concepcionistas Convent and next to the land where the parish temple of San Ginés had sat before it was demolished and moved to the temple of the old Santo Domingo Convent.

This action meant the renovation of the area from both a planning and an architectural viewpoint. They decided that the new building should face the new square left after demolishing San Ginés Church, including the square next to it, and they changed the alignment of the streets that led into it, especially Calle de la Exposición street, which affected the former Concepcionistas Convent (Trallero Sanz AM 2012, pp 2017), (Cuadrado Prieto MA 2016) (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6.

Map of the alignment of Calle de la Exposición street E:1/200. Antonio Batllé. 1940.

4 Conclusions

The cartography created by the Spanish Geographical and Statistical Institute (Instituto Geográfico y Estadístico) is an important collection of extremely accurate maps. Their reliability allows us to appreciate or challenge other earlier or later documents and further our knowledge of how Guadalajara’s town planning has evolved. Thanks to these maps we are able to see how its layout experienced significant changes following the decline of the strong religious function it performed until the 19th century, leading to the loss of a large part of its architectural heritage and the medieval character of the layout of the old part of the town.