The Residencia de Estudiantes was, like the Institución Libre de Enseñanza (ILE) and the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios (JAE), one of the projects of modernization that were interrupted by the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship, begining a break of nearly fifty years in its history.

After the military uprising, Jiménez Fraud, taking advantage of the presence of foreign students, managed to obtained diplomatic immunity for the Residencia. Intellectuals such as Ortega y Gasset, Dámaso Alonso, and Menéndez Pidal found a safe haven until their departure into exile or to Valencia. The Residencia de Señoritas continued its activities for a while, but without María de Maeztu, who, like Jiménez Fraud, left Spain in 1936. In 1937, the Residencia de Estudiantes was converted into a military hospital. Dr. Luis Calandre, a former house physician and director of its Laboratory of Microscopic Anatomy, was its director until the end of the war. Thanks to him, the laboratory preserved its facilities.

On March 28, 1939, Franco’s army took Madrid. The Residencia was occupied by air force troops who set the dining hall for officers there. In the following years, the JAE was dissolved by decree, and the Poplars Hill radically changed: the Central Pavilion became a residence for researchers of the newly created Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and the auditorium was converted into the Church of the Holy Ghost. Many of the former residents remained in Spain, while others were victims of repression or went into exile, where they could continue with their lives and careers.