Calle de San Leonardo

Conde Duque·Universidad

The name comes from an oratory dedicated to Saint Leonard that stood on the street in the late first third of the 17th century, as an annex of the parish of the Benedictine monastery of San Martín. Devotion to the saint took hold in this area outside the walls of the Leganitos quarter and named the street before the hermitage of San Marcos replaced the original oratory.

The calle de San Leonardo runs down through the Universidad quarter, between the calle de los Reyes and the plaza de España, where since the 1950s the Edificio España blocks its way to the west. It was once longer, reaching Leganitos, a meadow outside the walls where Madrileños went to seek cool air in summer. The name begins with an oratory of around 1632, dependent on the Benedictine monastery of San Martín. Here the accounts contradict one another: the Texeira map of 1656 already labels the street as calle de San Marcos, yet the nickname San Leonardo held on alongside for centuries. The church of San Marcos at today’s number 10 arose from a vow by Philip V after the victory of Almansa in 1707; it was designed by Ventura Rodríguez, barely in his thirties, its plan woven over three ellipses and reckoned one of his neoclassical masterpieces. The wrecking crews of the 1950s changed the street forever: the Edificio España and the Torre de Madrid sealed the view and cut the link to Leganitos. In that upheaval the official name jumped from San Marcos to San Leonardo, reviving the memory of the first oratory.

Its names

  • Calle de los Morenos / Calle de San Leonardoanterior a 1656
  • Calle de San Marcosdocumentada en el plano de Texeira de 1656 y vigente hasta mid 20th century
  • Calle de San Leonardo20th century, fijada en los años cuarenta-cincuenta
Sources (8)

Crossings