Principe Pío Station

Today’s Príncipe Pío station, opened in 1995, was known as North Station for many years as it was built by the French-owned Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España (Northern Spain Railway Company), and was the terminus of a railway line connecting Madrid with the French border.

The station building, listed as unique, is an example of late 19th-century modernist architecture. Built by the French architects Bairez, Grasset, and Ouliat in 1879, it presents a façade flanked by two towers. Built in a historicist style, it still retains many of its original features. In the interior, the hall is the most noteworthy area.

After losing its function as a railroad station, it was closed for several years until reopened, after undergoing a major restoration. Since 1990, it has been transformed into an important transport hub with Metro and an urban, inter-urban annd long distance bus interchange, but it has also become a Leisure and Cultural Center, and a mall with all kind of stores and restaurants.