Spain (Banco de España), which is situated on Calle Alaclá, demolishing the Casas-Palacio (known as Santamarca) for its completion. The Plaza de Cibeles was the main location for various political celebrations, such as the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic on 14 April 1931, when the flag of the Second Republic was raised on the façade of the Palacio de Comunicaciones. The first remodelling was undertaken, adding two further floors to the management building. Despite the important location, the building did not suffer major damage from the bombings that devastated Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. During the Siege of Madrid, the building came under gun fire. The bullet holes can still be seen today on the building's white façade. The bullet holes were caused by the military-like actions at the end of the Civil War (at the beginning of March 1939), as a consequence of Segismundo Casado's revolt against Juan Negerín's government. The constitution of the National Defence Council placed a, artillery battery in the Plaza de Cibeles. The building was involved in a battle on 8 and 9 March when communist troops succeeded in taking the Palacio de Comunicaciones within a few hours, while Casado's troops were resisting in the Naval Office (Ministerio de la Marina), the War Office and the Bank of Spain. Much later it would be confirmed as the beginning of the street Gran Vía (The Great Way). Decline in its use as a postal centre and reuse Telegraph services continued increasing in Spain until 1987. During this period the building underwent some restorations and a whitening of its façade in 1994. Since this date, the building's use had started to decline until 2005 when it became a purely residential service; with less than five hundred users. In 1996 the architect Belén Isla Ayuso was in charge of the first restoration of the façade. The Palacio de Comunicaciones' transformation began in 2003 after the Collaboration Protocol between the City Council of Madrid and the Treasury Department to optimise the use of certain buildings in Madrid. The needs of the city hall and municipal administration had outgrown their traditional seat, the Casa de la Villa and Casa de Cisneros, both of which are located in the Plaza de la Villa. Therefore, the city council was relocated to the much grander but underused building on Plaza de Cibeles. The first municipal bodies, including the office of the