Calle de los Astros
Takes its name from the heavenly bodies, within the astronomically themed street plan of the Estrella neighbourhood.
La calle de los Astros belongs to the Estrella neighbourhood, built up in the northeast of Retiro from 1953, when the developer Urbis put forward its plan for the land east of calle del Doctor Esquerdo. That scheme introduced the neighbourhood’s name and the rule that would order its streets: name them by looking at the sky.
The name points not to a single star but to the whole array of heavenly bodies that fill the firmament. It sits among signs of the same family: nearby stand calle de Sirio, calle de la Estrella Polar, calle de Perseo, calle de la Cruz del Sur and the passages del Can Mayor and del Can Menor.
Two versions circulate about the neighbourhood’s name. One credits the insurance company La Estrella, which owned part of the land. The other ties it to the Star of Bethlehem, as a continuation of the neighbouring Niño Jesús area.