Spanish Benevolent Society

The Spanish Benevolent Society (also known as Centro Español-La Nacional) is a private social club in New York City founded in 1868 to serve the Spanish-American community in Manhattan. It is located at 239 West 14th Street and is in the heart of the now disappeared Little Spain.

History

Many prominent Spanish artists, expatriates, immigrants, and personalities have lived at the society as resident artists during the more than 150 years of its existence, like Picasso, Dalí, Buñuel, or Federico García Lorca. In 2010 Spanish American filmmaker and writer Artur Balder, who lived in the building as resident artist for more than one year, created the documentary Little Spain, displaying for first time the untold history of this society. The archive contains more than 450 photographs and 150 documents that have never been publicly displayed. They present the history of the streets of Little Spain in New York City throughout the 20th Century.

Other websites

• Spanish Benevolent Society - La Nacional