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Palacio de Fernán Núñez, Madrid

Updated on 9 October 2026

The Palacio de Fernán Núñez is a 19th-century aristocratic house on Calle Santa Isabel in Madrid, between Atocha station and the Lavapiés district. It is the headquarters of the Fundación de los Ferrocarriles Españoles (Spanish Railways Foundation), which opens it for guided tours. This post covers the history of the palace, the rooms shown on a tour, and how to book in the 2026-27 season.

History

The foundation dates the origin of the palace to 1753. In that year Blas Jover, a member of the council of King Fernando VI, built his house on land that had been part of the gardens of the Convent of Santa Isabel. In 1769 the 13th Duke of Alburquerque bought and altered it. After his death in 1803 a disputed inheritance left the building in use as a barracks, a hospital and housing.

In 1815 Felipe María Osorio de la Cueva, 7th Count of Cervellón, inherited the house. He later married María Francisca de Asís Gutiérrez de los Ríos, 2nd Duchess of Fernán-Núñez, and the couple rebuilt it between 1847 and 1849 as the Romantic-style palace that survives today. It became one of the centres of Madrid’s social life. A fancy-dress ball held here in February 1884 was attended by King Alfonso XII and Queen María Cristina.

The railway connection began in the 20th century. The Compañía de los Ferrocarriles del Oeste de España acquired the palace in 1941, and it became the seat of the board of directors of RENFE when the railway companies were nationalised. The foundation has had its headquarters here since 1985. The building now belongs to Adif and Renfe.

What a tour shows

The palace has two parts, the noble area and the service area. The service area was turned into offices from 1941. The noble area is the better preserved. It keeps its original furniture, lamps and ornaments, which is why, according to Madrid’s tourism website, it has served as a set for period films and series for more than seven decades.

The decoration includes carpets and tapestries from the Real Fábrica de Santa Bárbara, some of them based on cartoons by Goya, Murano and Baccarat crystal chandeliers, silks, marble and bronze. The rooms singled out by the foundation and the tourism website are:

  • the Patio de Recibo with the main staircase
  • the Salón de Baile (ballroom), which recalls the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles
  • the Salón Isabelino and the Comedor de Gala (state dining room)
  • the Salón de Estuco, the Salón Amarillo, the Salón Rojo and the Logia
  • the garden, designed by Parisian architects and landscape designers, and the greenhouse

Since June 2025 the palace also displays an album of 84 original photographs by Fernando Debas of the guests at the 1884 ball.

Tours, tickets and prices

The palace is visited on guided tours only; it is a working office building and has no general opening hours. The foundation publishes a monthly agenda of dates for its 2026-27 season of guided tours and sells tickets through its visits page. In October 2026 the agenda for November was already on sale.

  • Price: €10 per person for an individual guided tour, as listed by Madrid’s tourism website in 2026.
  • General tour: for the general public, on the history of the palace, the people who lived in it and its recent past.
  • Tours in English: offered for groups of 25 people; the day and time are agreed with the reservations department.
  • Themed tours: special group visits on the ducal history, the railway history or the conservation and restoration of the rooms.

The contact address for visits is [email protected]. Individual visitors who do not speak Spanish should ask before booking whether a tour in English is planned.

Getting there

The address is Calle de Santa Isabel, 44. The nearest metro stations are Antón Martín and Estación del Arte (both line 1) and Lavapiés (line 3). Cercanías trains stop at Madrid-Atocha. The foundation describes the palace as standing beside the southern corner of the triangle formed by the Museo del Prado, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Museo Reina Sofía, so a tour fits easily into a day spent in the museums. The post on museums in Madrid covers them, and the Prado has its own post.

For students

The themed tours on conservation and restoration are aimed at teaching, which makes the palace a useful visit for groups studying art history, heritage or interior design. A tour is also a short, inexpensive way to see how the Madrid aristocracy lived in the reign of Isabel II. The Madrid city page lists places to study in the city.

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