Calle de María Guilhou

The name comes from a family that ruled this land before the district existed. In the mid-nineteenth century the French financier and industrialist Louis Guilhou, settled in Spain, gradually bought up large tracts in what was then the town of Chamartín de la Rosa. He set up industries and, above all, an estate with gardens and an elegant French-style mansion he named Quinta de San Enrique. María Guilhou was that financier’s daughter, and it fell to her to be the last owner of the estate before it passed to other hands and, in time, to the ONCE. When the rural core was built up and the Nueva España district was born, the street register sought to fix those surnames on the map: a street for the mother, Dolores Povedano — now gone — and this short one for the daughter. The mansion still stands, listed as a cultural heritage site, hosting weddings and events while the street keeps the name of the woman who once owned it.