Calle de Poniente

The name points west, to the place on the horizon where the sun drops at the end of the day. It is a descriptive place name, one of those that name a street by its orientation rather than a person or an event. The calle de Poniente has its mirror in the calle del Levante, which faces east, where the sun rises. Both flank a small circular square in the barrio de Castilla, a corner of only a handful of streets where low houses still prevail, a step from Plaza de Castilla. Naming two parallel streets after the two ends of the sun’s path ordered the map at once: anyone finding their bearings knew which way they faced without a compass. The spot belongs to the colonies of small villas raised in the first third of the twentieth century north of Madrid, when this land was still open country and the town was called Chamartín de la Rosa.