Calle del Roble

The oak, with its sturdy trunk and wood so hard that for centuries it held up beams, ships, and barrels, gives its name to this short street in the Castillejos neighborhood, at the northern edge of Tetuán. Behind the sign there is no soldier or anniversary. Roble belongs to a group of neighboring streets named after trees and plants —⁠willow, linden, pagoda tree, elder⁠—⁠, a habit of Madrid’s planners when ordering the expanding districts. These lots belonged to the old municipality of Chamartín de la Rosa, until Madrid absorbed it in 1948.