Calle Conde de Miranda

In the heart of Habsburg Madrid, between the Plaza de San Miguel and the Plaza del Conde de Barajas, this street already appears on 17th- and 18th-century maps under another name, calle de San Miguel, after the neighbouring parish. The spot’s old name grew from a palace and a charming misunderstanding. It was built by Juan Zapata y Cárdenas, master of the horse to Henry IV, who set his entail here in 1485. Above the main balcony, two male stone figures flanked the entrance like guardians. Locals christened them “savages” —⁠images of American natives that came into fashion after the Discovery⁠— and began calling the place “Casa de los Salvajes.” The nickname stuck to the palace, the little square and the alley. The building passed to the Counts of Miranda and then to those of Montijo; its Renaissance courtyard travelled piece by piece to Carabanchel, and the two figures held out until the palace was pulled down around 1922. From the mid-19th century, street and square kept the name of the Count of Miranda, the lineage that had marked the place for centuries.