Calle Tahona de las Descalzas
It owes its name to a bakery (tahona) that stood on the alley’s site, owned by the Monastery of the Descalzas Reales, which sold its bread at cost and gave it away free on Saturdays. The bakery already appears on Espinosa’s map of 1769 as “Calle del horno de las Descalzas”.
Calle Tahona de las Descalzas turns at an angle behind the El Corte Inglés department store on Preciados, tucked between Calle de Tetuán and Calle del Maestro Victoria. The land has a curious origin: it went to the chaplain of the Descalzas Reales to settle the debts that the Casa Real de Misericordia, founded by Infanta Juana of Austria in 1559 to support twelve poor priests, had run up with the monastery.
On this ground stood a bakery belonging to the reformed Poor Clares. Its wood-fired bread became famous across Madrid: the monastery sold it at cost and gave it away free on Saturdays. The oven closed, but the name stayed, and to this day it recalls the nuns' bread.
Its names
- Calle del horno de las Descalzash. 1769
- Calle de la Tahona de las Descalzas19th century–actualidad
Sources (8)
- entredosamores.es — Madrid Antiguo (cita sobre la tahona, sábados y precio de coste)
- mencantamadrid — Plaza de las Descalzas Reales y alrededores (2016)
- fotopaseopormadridcalles — Calle de la Tahona de las Descalzas (Casa de Misericordia y capellán)
- flaneandopormadrid — Casa de Capellanes (historia de la Misericordia y el entorno)
- streetsigns.co.il — Azulejo de la Calle Tahona de las Descalzas (Ruiz de Luna González)
- Wikipedia — Calle del Maestro Victoria (contexto barrio, capellanes Descalzas)
- BNE Digital — Las calles de Madrid, Peñasco y Cambronero, 1889 (referencia bibliográfica)
- Geoportal Madrid — Plano de Texeira 1656