Calle del Marqués Viudo de Pontejos

The street was born from stitching two spaces together: calle del Vicario Viejo, which recalled Doctor Álvaro de Villegas, and the plazuela de San Esteban. In 1839 the missing stretch between them was opened and the pieces joined into a single street. In the mid-nineteenth century it took the name Pontejos, honouring Joaquín Vizcaíno, a magistrate who left his mark in very little time. Between 1834 and 1836 he reformed the street plan, paved the roadways, brought in gas lighting, and renumbered the houses taking the Puerta del Sol as the starting point. To him is also owed the drive to found Spain’s first savings bank. The name had an interlude: between 1941 and 1980 it was renamed calle del Conde de Plasencia, until the historical name was recovered. It runs between the plaza de Pontejos and calle de Postas, in the Sol district.