Estadio de Chamartín – The former Real Madrid stadium in the heart of Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid

In 1923, Real Madrid FC, which at that time played its matches at the Ciudad Lineal Velodrome, acquired some land in the town of Chamartín de la Rosa, an independent municipality of Madrid.

The land, known as “Villa Rosa”, was 122,000 meters long and was delimited by the Chamartín de la Rosa road (current Paseo de la Castellana), the Arenal de Maudes road (Concha Espina Avenue) and Alfredo Calderón Street (Padre Damián Street)

**Construction of the new stadium (Estadio Santiago Bernabéu) and the Chamartín stadium on the right**

A former player of the club, José María Castell, was responsible for the project that included a sports complex consisting of tennis courts, a gym and a swimming pool, as well as a grass field with capacity for 15,000 spectators. The Chamartín Stadium was inaugurated, on May 17, 1924, in a match against the English Newcastle United Football Club.

Although initially the name of Parque de Sports del Real Madrid Foot-ball Club was considered for the new stadium, finally the Real Madrid Club de Fútbol Field was chosen.1 However, it was popularly always known as the Chamartín Stadium.

Campus Experience Fundación Real Madrid, the building with the glass pyramid, at the Av. de Concha Espina and C. del Padre Damián, is the site of the old Estadio Chamartín / Image: via de.m.wikipedia.org

On May 2, 1946, Santiago Bernabéu, then president of the club, organized a massive meal at the stadium to say goodbye to the venue. On May 13, 1946, the last official game was played in Chamartín, played against Club Deportivo Alcoyano. Three days later, the team returned to play a friendly in Chamartín as the closing of the stadium against Club Deportivo Málaga and the next day the demolition of the stadium began.

In 1947 it was moved to the so-called Nuevo Estadio de Chamartín – renamed in 1955 as the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium which was built on the adjacent land.