Calle del Conde de Romanones

Embajadores

The street takes its name from Álvaro de Figueroa y Torres (Madrid, 9 August 1863 – Madrid, 11 September 1950), 1st Count of Romanones, by resolution of the Madrid City Council of 1 August 1899. The noble title, granted on 30 January 1893 by the regent María Cristina in the name of Alfonso XIII, refers to the town of Romanones (province of Guadalajara), where the Figueroa family held old seigneurial estates. The street’s earlier name was Barrionuevo, documented from the 17th century.

Before it bore a politician’s name, this Embajadores street was called Barrionuevo (“new district”), and the nickname told the truth: a district was built here from scratch, driven by the Count-Duke of Olivares around the Dominican convent of Santo Tomás. The convent, facing Calle de Atocha, burned down in 1872, and the parish of Santa Cruz was set up on its plot. Behind it stood a wine cellar famous for tin contraptions called “organs”: a system of pipes that cooled the wine and served it in exact measures, until the Dominicans ordered them dismantled. The City Council dedicated the street in 1899 to the 1st Count of Romanones, Álvaro de Figueroa, just as he ended his second term as mayor. Mayor twice, member of parliament for Guadalajara without interruption from 1888, and prime minister three times, historians point to him as a portrait of the political bossism of the Restoration. At number 10 still stands the Casa del Marqués de Villamejor, built by his father.

Its names

  • Calle de BarrionuevoPrimer tercio del 17th century – 1 de agosto de 1899
  • Calle del Conde de Romanones1 de agosto de 1899 – actualidad
Sources (8)

Crossings