Windsor Tower
| Torre Windsor | |
|---|---|
 Windsor Tower (right) in 2004 | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Status | Destroyed |
| Type | Office |
| Location | C/Raimundo Fdez. Villaverde 65, Madrid, Spain |
| Coordinates | 40°26′49″N 3°41′40″W / 40.44694°N 3.69444°W |
| Construction started | 1975 |
| Completed | 1979 |
| Destroyed | 12 February 2005 |
| Owner | Ason Inmobiliaria |
| Height | |
| Roof | 106 m (348 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 3 below, 29 above |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Gabinete Alas-Casariego |
The Windsor Tower (Spanish: Torre Windsor) was an office building in the financial center of Madrid, Spain. Built in 1979, it was 106 m (348 ft) high and had 32 floors of which 29 were above ground level and 3 below. The building was gutted by a huge fire on 12 February 2005, and partially collapsed. At the time of the fire, it was the eighth tallest building in Madrid.[1] It has since been demolished.[2]
Characteristics of the building
[edit]The building, located at Calle Raimundo Fernández Villaverde 65,[3] had a total area of approximately 21,000 square metres (230,000 sq ft).[4] It was one of the first modern towers in Madrid.[5] The tower was designed in 1974 by a team of six Spanish architects: Genaro Alas Rodríguez, Pedro Casariego Hernández Vaquero, Luis Alemany Indarte, Rafael Alemany Indarte, Ignacio Ferrero Ruiz de la Prada, and Manuel del Río Martínez. It was constructed between 1975 and 1979.[6]
Its distinctive appearance was due to its elemental geometry, lacking composite elements. Its façade was completely covered by reflective glass-like panels that mirrored the sky of Madrid, diminishing its visual impact. The structure was divided into two halves by a mechanical floor without windows. It was a very solid building, with a central core of reinforced concrete that resisted the high temperatures of the fire without collapsing. The building did not have a fire sprinkler system. Sprinklers were being retrofitted, but they were not yet operable when the building was destroyed by fire.[7]
Fire
[edit]Around midnight, on 12 February 2005, a fire was detected on the 21st floor of the building. The fire spread quickly throughout the entire building, leading to the collapse of the outermost, steel parts of the upper floors.[8] As the fire continued into the following day, the tower surroundings were closed off, causing disruption for the city commuters in the area.[9] It took firefighters about 24 hours to extinguish the fire. In the aftermath, seven firefighters were injured,[10] but nobody was killed during the disaster.[11] However, the building was a total loss, which was arguably the worst in Madrid's history. The fire was blamed on an electrical fault.[12]
The city council of Madrid covered the cost of demolishing the remains of the building, which was £17 million (about US$21) million in 2005. Demolition work began in March 2005 and was completed in August that year.[2] A 23-story replacement called Torre Titania was built from 2007 to 2011.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Aunión, J. A. (17 February 2015). "Return to Madrid's towering inferno". El País. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
- ^ a b "EL JUEZ HA SOBRESEÍDO EL CASO: Se cumple un año del incendio que devastó la Torre Windsor". Europa Press (in Spanish). 12 February 2006. Retrieved 2 April 2025 – via El Mundo.
- ^ "Edificio Windsor". The Skyscraper Center. Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
- ^ "2005-2020. Dismantling the Windsor Tower". Group Ortiz. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
- ^ Martínez, Borja (10 March 2023). "Misterios aparte, ¿era el edificio Windsor buena arquitectura?". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 April 2025.
- ^ Uceta, Enrique Dominguez (13 February 2005). "106 METROS DE ALTURA Y UN NÚCLEO DE HORMIGÓN ARMADO: El edificio Windsor, primer espejo de la modernidad madrileña". El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 April 2025.
- ^ Standing Committee on Structural Safety, "The Fire at Torre Windsor Office Building, Madrid 2005" Archived 2020-07-07 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Madrid skyscraper faces collapse". BBC News. 13 February 2005. Retrieved 26 March 2006.
- ^ "Commuter chaos after Madrid blaze". BBC News. 14 February 2005. Retrieved 25 February 2005.
- ^ "Madrid's biggest fire destroys skyscraper". Reuters. 14 February 2005. Retrieved 2 April 2025 – via Times of Malta.
- ^ "Hace 20 años las llamas devoraron la torre Windsor y el misterio persiste: seguimos sin saber por qué ocurrió". 20 minutos (in Spanish). 12 February 2025. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
- ^ "Los Bomberos dan por extinguido el incendio del edificio Windsor e inician su inspección". El Mundo (in Spanish). 14 February 2005. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
External links
[edit]
- elmundo.es, Arde el Winsor (Windsor burns). Images of the fire.
- CNN.com, Madrid alert after skyscraper fire.
- Borneo Bulletin, Arsonists may be behind Madrid fire.
- NAMC Worldwide Newsroom, Horrific Fire at the Windsor Tower in Madrid Spain Shakes the Capital.
- NEWS24.com, Silhouettes in Madrid inferno.
| Authority control databases: Geographic |
|---|
- Demolished buildings and structures in Madrid
- History of Madrid
- Skyscraper office buildings in Madrid
- Office buildings completed in 1979
- Former skyscrapers
- Buildings and structures demolished in 2005
- Buildings and structures in Cuatro Caminos neighborhood, Madrid
- 2005 fires in Europe
- Fires in Spain
- Building and structure collapses in 2005
- Building and structure collapses in Europe
- Building and structure collapses caused by fire
- 2005 disasters in Spain