Calle Botoneras
The street takes its name from the hardware women who kept their stalls on it, popularly known as botoneras (“button women”) because buttons were the most sought-after goods they sold. The trade settled by this arch of the Plaza Mayor in the 17th century.
Calle Botoneras, in the Sol quarter, drops from the Plaza Mayor toward calle Imperial, easing the slope with a small flight of steps. One of the square’s ten entrances opens right here, the Arco de las Botoneras.
The women who sold at this spot belonged to the hardware guild: they made cheap metal goods, and among them the buttons stood out, in silver, gold, bone or ivory, many made to order. Their clientele was no ordinary crowd. Nobles, pages and soldiers came to commission the button sets for their ceremonial uniforms, and the guild’s ordinances required the women to be honest and of good repute.
The street has not lost its calling for trade. At number 5, Casa Rojo opened in 1894; after the war it was renamed Los Galayos and is still open today.
Its names
- Arco ImperialAnterior a 1835
- Arco de las Botoneras1835
- Diecisiete de Julio1854
- BotonerasPosterior a 1854, hasta hoy
Sources (8)
- Wikipedia — Calle de Botoneras
- Antiguos Cafés de Madrid — Calle de Botoneras
- De Madrid a la Nube — Calle de las Botoneras
- Madrid: sus viejas calles — Botoneras (blog de P. López-Hernández)
- Las Botoneras se chivan — Historias de Madrid
- Los Galayos — Historia del restaurante
- Caminando por Madrid — Restaurante Los Galayos
- Capmany y de Montpalau, Antonio de — Origen histórico y etimológico de las calles de Madrid (1863), Internet Archive