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The convent was declared a heritage site in 1974.
Founded in 1674, the convent is part of a larger complex that occupies a short corridor of the city and includes the church, the chaplains’ house, and a guesthouse. The entire complex was built through the patronage of María de Vera, the widow of Juan González de Uzqueta, a royal adviser and lord of Boadilla del Monte.
In the 17th century, many members of the royal court established monastic foundations out of a sense of intense religious fervor during the Counter-Reformation in Spain, but also as a display of their power and as a way of gaining social prestige. Together with the Palace of Infante don Luis, the convent was declared a heritage site in 1974. It was inhabited until the mid 1970s, when the nuns chose to relocate to a newly constructed building nearby.
The convent’s original structure was renovated and the building was converted into a hotel. The floor plan of the church, which was restored in 1998, is laid out in the form of a Christian cross, with an elevated choir situated above the entrance door and the crossing covered by a vault which contains the coats of arms of the building’s founders within its pendentives. Its austere brick façade is representative of 17th century Carmelite churches, reflecting the sober baroque style of Madrid in that era, with its simple lines and symmetry. There is a niche depicting the Incarnation, with the founders’ coats of arms to the sides and a pediment with a triangular gable crowning it on top.
