Calle del Naranjo

The orange tree that names this street is the tree of blossom and golden fruit, though it was not always called so. Until the mid-twentieth century the street honored Juan Bautista Topete, a naval officer who fought in the African War of 1860, the episode from which the whole neighborhood sprang. The first houses of Tetuán rose beside the camp the army set up north of Madrid, and its streets were named after the generals and battles of that Moroccan campaign. The change came in 1948, when Tetuán was annexed to Madrid. The capital already had its own streets dedicated to the African heroes, and joining the two street plans produced repeated names. To untangle the mess, the city renamed dozens of Tetuán streets after trees and flowers. So Topete became Naranjo, just as neighboring Serrano turned into Araucaria. The blossom stayed on the sign and the officer vanished from the street plan of Berruguete.