Avenida de Brasilia
The avenue takes its name from Brasília, the federal capital of Brazil inaugurated on 21 April 1960. It is part of the Parque de las Avenidas development, promoted by CIOHSA from 1956, where every street is named after a city beginning with B.
Walk through the Parque de las Avenidas and you will notice something odd: almost every street starts with the same letter. It is no accident. When the city council authorized the development in July 1956, someone decided that each street would bear the name of a city beginning with B. The rule holds block after block, with two documented exceptions: Baviera, which is a region and not a city, and the Plaza de Venecia, whose original sign read “Benecia” through a typo.
The neighborhood was built by CIOHSA on the old market gardens of the Abroñigal stream, in the Guindalera. The first phase began in 1958; the second was delivered in 1969, with blocks of five to ten floors, central heating and parquet.
The city that gives this avenue its name was born almost at the same time as the neighborhood that honors it. Lúcio Costa designed the urban plan of Brasilia and Oscar Niemeyer signed its main buildings, and the new capital opened on 21 April 1960, right in the middle of the first phase of works here in Madrid.