Calle de los Dos Amigos

Conde Duque·Universidad

The street takes its name from a 14th- or 15th-century estate linked to two inseparable orphans, Gabino and Guillén, whose adjoining properties passed to the prior of San Martín after they died without heirs. The plot was known as “the estate of the Two Friends” and the name passed to the street when the area was built up. The tradition was recorded by Pedro de Répide in “The Streets of Madrid” and also attributed to Antonio Capmany in “Historical and etymological origin of the streets of Madrid”. Texeira’s map (1656) already records it under the present name.

The street begins behind the Edificio España and links calle del Maestro Guerrero with San Bernardino. Barely a hundred metres, a dead end, one of the shortest and quietest streets in the Centro district. The name comes from a story Pedro de Répide places in the 14th century. Two boys, Gabino and Guillén, inherited neighbouring plots near what is now Plaza de España. Orphaned young, they lived off their orchards and marked the years of their friendship by planting a tree for each. Gabino fell ill and died; Guillén, on learning it, died of grief. With no heirs, their land passed to the prior of San Martín, and people began to call it “the estate of the Two Friends”. When the land was parcelled out, the place name passed whole to the street. The name is still alive in the neighbourhood: the Dos Amigos municipal seniors' centre and the old Café Dos Amigos keep it in view.

Its names

  • Calle de los Dos Huérfanosanterior a 1656 (fecha imprecisa)
  • Calle de los Dos Amigosdocumentada en 1656 (plano de Texeira)
Sources (10)

Crossings