Juan de Herrera

Juan de Herrera (1530–1597) was a Spanish architect, mathematician and geometrician, and the foremost architect of the Spanish Renaissance under Philip II. After serving Charles V on campaign, he turned to architecture and from 1563 worked under Juan Bautista de Toledo at El Escorial. On Toledo's death in 1567 he took charge of the works, building the western façade and central basilica.

He gave the monastery-palace its sober granite façades and saw it completed in 1584. His austere manner became known as the Herrerian style.