Calle de Castelar
It bears the name of Emilio Castelar y Ripoll (Cádiz, 1832 – San Pedro del Pinatar, 1899), republican politician and orator who presided over the Executive Power of the First Spanish Republic between 7 September 1873 and 3 January 1874. The name was imposed in 1890 by the promoter Santos Pinela at the start of the Colonia Madrid Moderno in La Guindalera, without municipal sanction, as Pedro de Répide documented around 1921–1925.
In 1890, the architect Julián Marín, owner of some land in La Guindalera, joined forces with the promoter Santos Pinela to raise the Colonia Madrid Moderno: two-storey villas with gardens, in Moorish Revival style, meant for the middle classes. Calle de Castelar was born before the rest, as the founding axis around which the whole colony was arranged.
Pinela chose the name on his own. An old republican militant who had shared politics with the great orator Emilio Castelar, he wished to honour him by dedicating the street. The curious detail is that the city council never took part: the naming was done without any municipal resolution. Years later, in 1908, the city did officially honour the figure with the monument at the Castelar roundabout.
Castelar had merits to spare. Professor of History at the Central University from 1857, he was dismissed in 1865 for his criticism of Isabella II, a punishment that lit the student protest leading to the Night of San Daniel. From that first batch of houses a dozen originals still survive, among them the round corner tower Julián Marín designed himself.