Neo-Mudéjar is a type of Moorish Revival architecture practised in the Iberian Peninsula and to a far lesser extent in Ibero-America. This architectural movement emerged as a revival of Mudéjar style. It was an architectural trend of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that began in Madrid and Barcelona and quickly spread to other regions in Spain and Portugal. It used Mudéjar style elements such as the horseshoe arch, arabesque tiling, and abstract shaped brick ornamentations for the façades of modern buildings.[1]
The first examples of Neo-Mudéjar buildings were the Aguirre School designed by Rodríguez Ayuso,[1] the Plaza de Toros in Madrid built in 1874 (now demolished), and the Casa VicensbyAntoni Gaudí i Cornet.[2] The style then became almost "compulsory" for the construction of bullfight rings all around Spain, Portugal and the Hispanoamerican countries. In Madrid it became one of its most representative styles of the period, not only for public buildings, like the Aguirre School or the bullring of Las Ventas, but also for housing. The use of cheap materials, mainly brick for exteriors, made it a popular style in new neighborhoods.
Neo-Mudéjar was often combined with Neo-Gothic by architects such as Francisco de Cubas, Antonio María Repullés y Vargas and Francisco Jareño. After the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929inSeville, another stream of Neo-Mudéjar features appeared known as Andalusian Architectural Regionalism. The Plaza de España (Seville)[3] or the ABC newspaper headquarters (Madrid) are examples of this new style that combined traditional Andalusian architecture with Mudéjar features.
