Calle de la Basílica

A few metres from this street rises the Hispanic-American Basilica of Our Lady of Mercy, and from it la calle de la Basílica takes its name. The Mercedarian fathers commissioned it as the mother house of their order and as a monument to the Hispanic world: each chapel was dedicated to a nation of the Americas. It was designed by two young architects, Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza and Luis Laorga, with a classical basilican plan fitted to the long, narrow plot. The work dragged on from 1949 to 1965 amid financial straits, and the final mass runs 66 metres long and rises more than 42. The venture cost its authors so dearly that both ended up disowning the building; later, Sáenz de Oíza would design Torres Blancas and the Banco de Bilbao. Whoever reads the plaque today can look off into the distance: the tower that gives the street its name is still there.