Calle Carlos Balenchana

Barely seventy metres are enough to walk the length of the calle de Carlos Balenchana, in the Prosperidad neighbourhood. It bears the name of a Carlos Balenchana, but who he was and why he earned a plaque was never documented. The surname does hold an origin: it comes from a Basque lineage settled in the Gordejuela valley, in the Encartaciones of Biscay. The neighbourhood itself was born of an onomastic accident. Around 1862, an owner named Próspero Soynard began parcelling out and selling his land beside the old camino de Hortaleza, and the residents ended up warping his first name into “Prosperidad.” Among those streets remained this one, with its Carlos Balenchana and no known biography.