Despite the important location, the building did not suffer major damage from the bombings that devastated Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. During the Siege of Madrid, the building came under gun fire. The bullet holes can still be seen today on the building's white façade. The bullet holes were caused by the military-like actions at the end of the Civil War (at the beginning of March 1939), as a consequence of Segismundo Casado's revolt against Juan Negerín's government. The constitution of the National Defence Council placed a, artillery battery in the Plaza de Cibeles. The building was involved in a battle on 8 and 9 March when communist troops succeeded in taking the Palacio de Comunicaciones within a few hours, while Casado's troops were resisting in the Naval Office ("Ministerio de la Marina"), the War Office and the Bank of Spain. Much later it would be confirmed as the beginning of the street Gran Vía ("The Great Way").