Calle de Mesonero Romanos

Sol

The street takes its name from Ramón de Mesonero Romanos (Madrid, 1803–1882), the manners-and-customs writer, the town’s first official chronicler and perpetual librarian of Madrid, who was born at number 10 of this very street when it was still called del Olivo.

Between calle del Carmen and calle del Desengaño, this street in the Sol quarter beats at the heart of the Madrid that Ramón de Mesonero Romanos portrayed more minutely than any other chronicler. It was once called calle del Olivo, after an olive tree that belonged to the monks of San Martín, and was split into Olivo Alta and Olivo Baja. For decades it was an axis of the centre’s culture and journalism. The newspaper El Imparcial had its offices here until the Gran Vía took the building in 1913, and here, in 1905, Gregorio Pueyo opened the bookshop frequented by Valle-Inclán, Emilio Carrere and Juan Gris; Valle himself immortalised it as Zaratustra’s bookshop in Luces de Bohemia. The young Galdós lived on this street between 1863 and 1871, in a boarding house on the corner with Abada, where he wrote La Fontana de Oro.

Its names

  • Calle del Olivo BajaDocumentada al menos from the 17th century hasta late 19th century
  • Calle del Olivo AltaDocumentada al menos from the 17th century hasta 1854
  • Calle del General Dulce1854-1856
  • Calle del Olivo Alta1856 – late 19th century
  • Calle de Mesonero RomanosFinales del 19th century (posterior a 1882) – actualidad
Sources (10)

Crossings