Admiral 🇺🇸

Admiral, the Chicago brand of televisions and refrigerators, features one of the most ahead‑of‑its‑time air‑conditioning ads in Spain. In the July 1966 issue of *Selecciones del Reader's Digest*, on a blue background, it proclaimed: “New Admiral air conditioner that cools and heats!” The unit was the model Royal Admiral 1756C238H, a window unit with a wooden front delivering 4 400 kilocalories: “Enjoy coolness and comfort at all times… and supplemental heat during cold weather and in the mornings and evenings of unsettled weather. A reversible Royal Admiral gives you both! Adjust the climate control… and it will maintain the desired temperature. The Cycle Air Admiral mechanism circulates air throughout the room. The Arctic Window Admiral vent opens to provide maximum freshness.” In other words, a reversible window heat pump, sold in Spain in 1966, when the commercial argument of almost all its competitors was only to cool. Admiral also offered “other air conditioners in capacities from 1 000 to 7 300 kilocalories.”

The advertisement was signed by Admiral International Corporation (Chicago, Illinois) and, in Spain, “Anglo-Española de Electricidad, S.A., Avenida José Antonio 525, Barcelona,” the veteran house on Gran Vía that had been importing electrical and refrigeration material since 1880 and that at the time also manufactured its own air conditioners under the Anglo brand. Other 60s magazine pages show Admiral alongside Muebles Minvielle, and there is a 1958 Admiral advertisement published in Cuba, when the brand was already selling air conditioning in the Hispanic market.

Admiral was absorbed by Rockwell in 1973 and later by Magic Chef and Maytag, and disappeared from Spain. For the collector, a Royal Admiral reversible‑cycle unit with a wooden front is the piece that proves the domestic heat pump reached Spain almost thirty years before inverter splits made it commonplace.

The main source is the “Admiral air‑conditioner advertising sheet, 1966” from todocoleccion (19 x 14 cm), whose footer reads “Selections from Reader's Digest, July 1966”; from it come the model Royal Admiral 1756C238H, the 4,400 kilocalories, the reversible cycle, the Cycle Air mechanism, the Arctic Window vent, the range from 1,000 to 7,300 kcal and the distributor’s signature “Anglo‑Española de Electricidad, S.A., Avenida José Antonio 525, Barcelona”. A second sheet from the same year, catalogued as “Front 1: Admiral air‑conditioner, back 2: Long Tern silver polish, Reader's Digest 1966”, confirms the campaign.

Other pieces: two ads “Muebles Minvielle – Admiral air conditioner” and a “1958 magazine advertisement – Admiral air conditioning – Cuba ad”. Regarding the distributor, the Barcelofilia blog and Radiomuseum document that Anglo-Española de Electricidad (AEESA), founded in 1880 by the English engineer George St. Noble, represented Kelvinator, Philco and other American brands, manufactured Anglo radios and refrigerators and refrigeration compressors, and passed in 1973 into the hands of Matsushita (National Panasonic). See the Anglo data sheet.

History machine-translated from Spanish. Can you improve it? Write to us.