Calle de Tutor

The name celebrates a role rather than a person: that of tutor to a child queen. In 1841 the Cortes charged Agustín Argüelles with the education of Isabella II and her sister, aged eleven and nine, while General Espartero governed as regent. That orator of the Cortes of Cádiz took on the schooling of the future sovereign, and the street preserves his charge as its title. The district took the politician’s surname; this street, his function. It runs between Ventura Rodríguez and Romero Robledo, dotted with a market, a convent and old manor houses. They nicknamed Argüelles “the Divine” for his eloquence, and during his long exile in London he refused the aid offered to him, preferring hardship to owing favors.