The house could have been designed by the German architect Michael Fleischer, who in those years collaborated in the Secundino Zuazo studio. The block of flats was commissioned by the Banco Hispano Colonial that financed the project with the help of the Instituto Nacional de Previsión; the house was an early part of the Plan Castro for the expansion of Madrid. It was completed just at the moment of the proclamation of the Second Republic. When Pablo Neruda was appointed consul in Madrid in 1934, his friend Rafael Alberti found this house for him as a place to live. During the defence of Madrid during the Civil War, the Battle of Ciudad Universitaria occurred near the house, which caused it to suffer great damage. The house was restored in the forties. In 1981 it was declared a National Monument.