Gran Vía (Madrid Metro)

Gran Vía
Madrid Metro station
Location	Centro, Madrid Spain
Coordinates	40°25′12″N 3°42′06″W / 40.4200103°N 3.7018052°W / 40.4200103; -3.7018052Coordinates: 40°25′12″N 3°42′06″W / 40.4200103°N 3.7018052°W / 40.4200103; -3.7018052
Owned by	CRTM
Operated by	CRTM
Other information
Fare zone	A
History
Opened	17 October 1919 (1919-10-17)
Services
Preceding station   Madrid Metro   Following station Tribunal toward Pinar de Chamartín Line 1 Sol toward Valdecarros Chueca toward Alameda de Osuna Line 5 Callao toward Casa de Campo
Location
Gran Vía Location within Madrid

Gran Vía is a station on Lines 1 and 5 of the Madrid Metro located underneath Gran Vía and Red de San Luis Plaza in downtown Madrid. It is located in fare zone A.

The station was opened in 1919 as one of the the original 8 metro stops in Madrid. The original name of the station was Red de San Luis after the nearby plaza. The Gran Vía street was still under construction at that time, but a year later the station adopted that name.

During the dictatorship of Franco, the name was changed again to José Antonio. This was done in parallel with the renaming of the Gran Vía street to José Antonio Avenue by Franco, in honor of José Antonio, founder of the fascist party Falange.

In 1970, the Line 5 platforms opened under the name José Antonio. Fourteen years later, in 1984, the station returned to its previous name of Gran Vía.

For many years, the station was known for the elaborate edifice that housed the elevators, built by the architect Antonio Palacios. It was constructed of polished granite with an iron and glass canopy. To use the elevator, customers had to pay a small fee. The original vestibule, also done by Palacios, was decorated with glazed tiles. When the edifice was dismantled in 1972, it was returned to O Porriño, the architect's hometown. There is currently a project underway to install a replica.

There are plans to connect this station with the nearby Sol station in 2019, at an estimated cost of €18 million.