Architects of Madrid: Pedro de Ribera
The baroque architecture of Madrid takes place in a context of political and economic crisis that, when King Charles II died, led to a war and the arrival of a new dynasty to the throne. Despite the preference of the Bourbons for foreign architects, the Madrid castizo baroque was maintained for a time, led by authors such as Churriguera and Pedro de Ribera.
Brief biographical sketch
Pedro de Ribera (Madrid, 1681- Madrid, 1742)
4 born in August of 1681 in the street of the Bear of Lavapiés, neighborhood in which he will spend all his life. His father, carpenter and assembler of Aragonese origin, deals with the first years of his training.
The office of architecture will learn working with teachers who will mark its development, as the real architect Teodoro Ardemans, which will be assistant, and José B. de Churriguera. Marqués de Vadillo will also be key, with whom he will maintain a good friendship and who, in his position as corregidor of the Villa, will give him important assignments.
When dying Ardemans in 1726 is named Master Mayor of Works and Sources of Madrid, position that takes to him to construct an enormous legacy of which we are going to review some works.
Works
In religious architecture, one of his first works was the Chapel of the Virgin of the Port, next to the bridge of Segovia. During the Civil War it was very affected, with the annexed buildings completely destroyed and the perimeter walls and towers seriously damaged, while the front and the spire suffer only partial damage.
In addition to its construction, he participated in the financing as a member of the order that promoted the work of the church of San Cayetano, with which he maintained a very close bond throughout his life: in 1720 he fixed his residence at number 26 of the Ambassadors street, right in front of the temple; Also there, three of his children are ordained religious and his parents, his sister Matea, two of his three wives and finally he himself are buried in 1742.
Also it raises the church of the old convent of San Hermenegildo, today church of San Jose; It reforms the facade of the church of Montserrat and is in charge of building one of the two towers that it had designed.
Civil works occupy an important part of Ribera's legacy. Among the most representative commissions highlights the layout of the Cuartel del Conde Duque, a huge military complex for the guard of Felipe V, rectangular plant and divided into three interior courtyards.
He designed the façade and the interior extension of the Hospicio de Madrid, now the Museum of Madrid History, and the Toledo Bridge, which is a major work and marks the beginning of his engineering work. Another of these works is the Retamar bridge in the Madrid municipality of Las Rozas.
He also took care of the Corral de Comedias del Príncipe, where the Spanish Theater is now located, although only a handful of plans are kept.
From his work for private residences we have samples of the covers of the Miraflores Palace, the current Spanish Film Library (former Palace of Perales) or the residence of the Marquis of Torrecilla, today in a building of the Ministry of Finance.
More disputed is the authorship of the Palacio de Santoña, the current Chamber of Commerce that authors such as Virginia Tovar attribute to Gómez de Mora.
Along with the bridges, other urban constructions also include roads, promenades (Virgen del Puerto, Ntra. Sra. De Atocha), ports (San Vicente), water trips, sewerage and fountains such as La Fama. Work that, after passing through the Plaza de Antón Martín or the Parque del Oeste, today is outside the Museum of History of Madrid, next to the space with which the city pays tribute to the author: the gardens of the architect Ribera.
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