Watch Towers in Madrid

[Owain Shaw]

Buono Estente,

I've seen these out of the window of International House a few times, but have never had my camera on me due to teaching, so yesterday afternoon I made a special trip back to photograph them ... I'm not sure quite what, but they must belong to some kind of military compound, and accordingly it doesn't seem unreasonable to have them there, but it's the fact that they overlook a language school, an otherwise residential street, and a few car dealerships on the Castellana that seems a little odd these days. None of the towers appear to be in use these days either, enhancing the sense of anachronism ...





C and/or C appreciated ...

Boutros, Boutros-Ghali,

Owain.

[rick_reno]

nice, those looks like things you see at a prison

[Tandan]

Interesting. Perhaps an old embassy?

[tewlman]

CIA

[Owain Shaw]

Originally Posted by rick_reno

nice, those looks like things you see at a prison

Originally Posted by Tandan

Interesting. Perhaps an old embassy?

Originally Posted by tewlman

CIA

There's some barrack type buildings the other side of the wall (you can just see them from the street) so I think it may be a military training facility rather than an Embassy ... most of the Embassies are located further down the Castellana and are a bit more grandiose, this one is a bit hidden away by comparison. Not sure why they need(ed - as they seem pretty much unused and a bit decrepit now) watch towers though, but they intrigued me ...

Thanks for commenting!

[GopherM]

They look pretty old and what is in that location now might not be what was there many years ago. Probably a relic of some other era.

[MidnightSun]

Old prison would be my guess too.....

[Owain Shaw]

Originally Posted by GopherM

They look pretty old and what is in that location now might not be what was there many years ago. Probably a relic of some other era.

Fortunately, they seem to be one of Madrid's few relics of the era when designers thought "let's make everything out of concrete", but they do seem a bit dated, possibly 60s or 70s which would be back in Spain's dictatorial period ... there are slightly more modern security cameras as well but it doesn't seem like a thoroughly active facility, whatever it may be.

Originally Posted by MidnightSun

Old prison would be my guess too.....

The barrack type buildings behind the wall don't say prison to me, and there's only one outer wall where I'd expect two for a prison, but I could be wrong ...