“Walking through the University City of Madrid, I came across the San Juan Evangelista Residence Hall, which was a first-class cultural institution back in the 70s and 80s.” This is how he remembers it, with a certain nostalgia, Francisco José Eguibar, author of these photographs shared in Las Fotos de los Lectores de La Vanguardia.
At that time, this space was known as the Johnny and it was a hall of residence attached to the Complutense University of Madrid. It was founded in 1966 and, in a short time, it acquired great prestige for the cultural activities that were carried out there during the Franco regime, managing to circumvent its censorship.
It stood out, above all, for the cultural cycles that took place there. There were many gatherings and seminars that the San Juan Evangelista residence hall hosted, as well as jazz music concerts, thanks to its music club that was created in 1970.
It was a meeting place for young people who had artistic and cultural concerns, whether it was music or theatre. So the atmosphere was very noisy in those decades marked by a really complicated political and social context.
Since its inception, this hall of residence had belonged to the Unicaja Banking Foundation. However, in June 2014, it decided to close its doors, since it had more than four files open for various infractions, especially those related to construction and remodeling licenses.
Since then, its building has been occupied by a large number of people until February 2021, when the Complutense University of Madrid recovered the school as its own center. And, in addition, he promised to reform his facilities when he had the necessary budget for it.
