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The history of the square and the now-defunct Letamendi cinema, a little unknown to the public, have two beginnings that are somewhat distant in time.
The square was a project by Cerdà, which some still cannot explain today, since it was designed to hinder one of the supposed expressways of the future Eixample. The proof of its lack of necessity, some say, is that it has always been divided so as not to hinder circulation; at first, with the railway line and, at present, as a fast way out of the city.
It is dedicated to Doctor Josep de Letamendi i de Manjarrés, born in Barcelona in 1828, with a very extensive biography, since he developed the professions of doctor, musician, painter, philosopher and poet.
The square, divided into two parts, has always had a pollution-proof vegetation, since during the first half of the last century it had to endure the continuous smoke emitted by the coal locomotives in their continuous passage through the center of the city and Currently, the pollution from the cars that cross here night and day.
The only adornment of the square is the Font de la Pagesa (La Labradora fountain), made by Eduard Batiste Alentorn between 1913 and 1915, along with the Tortuga fountains in Plaza Goya and the Negrito fountain, in Calle Bruc with Diagonal
This fountain represents the figures of a colored boy holding a basin and a girl wiping the sweat from his face.
At present, the source has changed the name becoming the child of the Basin, so as not to hurt sensibilities. For the realization of the sculpture, Alentorn took his two sons as a model.
The Letamendi cinema was built at the beginning of the 20th century and was located on the current land where the headquarters of the Treasury Delegation is built, at number 17. And the only difference to the current situation is that the current street by Enrique Granados begins at the back of the block from the University, on Calle Diputación.
The Cerdà plan gave it number 25 as street, later going to University street, it was not until the beginning of the century that it took the name of Enrique Granados (composer), who together with Isaac Albéniz, created the Catalan piano school and for this reason gave it They dedicated the street.
Its owner, Joan Torras, connoisseur of behind-the-scenes art, intended to build in that sector of the city, with hardly any entertainment venues, a room that could present variety shows and was conditioned to offer the incipient cinematography that had emerged with force .
It was inaugurated on October 1, 1908. At the beginning it only had programming on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays and, exceptionally, on public holidays there were also show sessions.
He programmed some films whose titles (as in most cinemas) never appeared on the billboards, but, according to the advertisements, they were released daily. They were always accompanied by artistic performances (then they were not called varieties), which were interspersed between the projections and served to give the projector operator time to change the reels, without the usual protest from the spectators.
On November 1 of that year, on the occasion of All Saints’ Day, there was an exception, in the announcement of the billboards, since it included the name of the film in colors: Don Juan Tenorio, as a celebration of the Day of All Saints.
That same month, to get parents to bring their children to the movies in the afternoons, they published an ad in which they offered great gifts to children who had paid their tickets.
Among the performances that stood out at that time were tightrope walkers, contortionists, ventrilogists, singers and dancers. A very recurring number was also that of people who went out with small trained animals and who at that time delighted the public for their training. Possibly, at present they would not be so well received.
In principle, as in the movies, in the artistic performances they announced the type of performance that was offered, without any reference to the artists, until, due to competition from the other venues, a name began to emerge: The Lewy Brother’s , duetists and comic impersonators; the dancers known as Las Bilbaínas; The Adagios, king of musicals; the comedian Pepe Marqués; and the couple formed by Monsieur Robert and Miss Olga, duetists and drag queens, who triumphed with the show La Muñeca Eléctrica.
In 1911, Joan Torras, tired of a useless struggle, since the venue never got up and running, nor did he get a space within the city’s performance venues, abandoned management of the venue. Shortly after, the Letamendi cinema disappeared from the billboards.
Currently, not only the site but the entire block is occupied by the building of the Barcelona Tax office.
