Calle de Fernández de la Hoz

Before it bore a minister’s name, this street was called Calle de Chamartín, because it pointed toward the road to the old village of that name. It opened around 1859 and kept its rural sign until late 1893, when the city council chose to honor José María Fernández de la Hoz. He was born in Madrid in 1812 and made a name as a jurist before turning to politics. He entered Congress as a deputy for Madrid in 1844 and held a seat several times; in 1858 he reached the ministry of justice, and later became a life senator. He changed sides with notable ease, passing through conservative, liberal and revolutionary positions, and only at the end settled into Sagasta’s liberalism. He died in 1887. Today the street stitches together two Chamberí neighborhoods, Almagro and Ríos Rosas, from Zurbarán to the Plaza de San Juan de la Cruz.