Calle de El Escorial

Calle de El Escorial climbs a steep slope from the Corredera Baja de San Pablo up to calle de Jesús del Valle, in the heart of Malasaña. Its line faces northwest, toward the mountains, and there lies the key: on clear days, the gleam of the monastery’s basilica could be seen from the rooftops at the northern edge of town. The man who enjoyed that view was Mateo Vázquez de Leca, secretary to Philip II, who had his country retreat here. In summer, so the story goes, he would climb onto the roof to follow the monastery works and then report to the king. His house appears on Texeira’s map as the last great house of the Madrid of its day. The street was always residential and humble, with geranium-lined balconies. The War of Independence left an episode here: at number 16 lived María Beano, who on 2 May 1808 went out to find Captain Velarde and fell, shot dead, before reaching the Monteleón barracks.

María Beano, a widow on the street, lived on the second floor of number 16 in 1808. On 2 May she went out to look for Captain Pedro Velarde, with whom she was involved, and died of a gunshot to the chest before reaching the Monteleón Barracks. Pedro de Répide cites her among the women of Madrid who died heroically that day; Arturo Pérez-Reverte revived her as a character in the novel Un día de cólera (2007).