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Boletin Informativo Verano 1998 Editor’s note: The Royal Palace of Madrid is a towering structure with 250 years of history. The palace was built on the site of a former Alcazar that burned down in 1734. In the 1990s, Zardoya Otis modernized the six Otis elevators in the palace. The article below, written by Francisco Menchén Rodríguez, appeared in the quarterly employee magazine, Boletin Informativo, in 1998. The Royal Palace of Madrid is located on the ancient building site of the Muslim castle, subsequently a luxurious mayor’s residence that was destroyed by a fearsome fire on Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) 1734. Felipe V, our first Bourbon king, planned the construction of a new palace, entrusting the project to Filippo Juvara and later to Juan Bautista Sachetti, when the then-draftsman Ventura Rodríguez intervened. He would, over the years, rise to be a famous urban planner and architect. On April 6, 1738, the first stone was set in place and on Dec. 1, 1763, Carlos III moved into a part of the new palace, and the various monarchs who followed him used this residence until the abdication of Alfonso XIII in 1931. It is currently used for government offices. In 1903, three Stigler Otis elevators known as the Damas Elevator, the Carlos III Elevator and the Elevator of the King were installed. The latter is the only one that was kept in its original condition. Three more were subsequently installed. The (Otis Spain) Engineering Department of the Madrid Plant, as well as the assembly personnel from the Embassies Delegation participated in the recent modernization of the Elevator of the King. They did excellent work. We would also like to thank the Architectural Department of the National Treasury for its kind cooperation. With the participation of all these people, we succeeded in achieving the goal of modernizing the safety and operation systems of the elevator, while preserving its initial appearance as it was installed almost a century ago. Menchén Rodríguez
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