Calle de Campoamor

Calle de Campoamor, in the Justicia district, was born of a demolition. Where it now runs between Fernando VI and Génova stood the convent of Santa Teresa, founded in 1683 by the Duke of Medina de las Torres for the Discalced Carmelites. Convent, church and gardens filled the whole block. The revolution of 1868 and the dethroning of Isabella II changed everything. The nuns were evicted and in 1869 the buildings came down. Four new streets sprang from the site: Argensola, Campoamor, Justiniano and the extension of Santa Teresa. The name arrived with the death of the poet Ramón de Campoamor, who died in Madrid in February 1901. His Doloras made brief philosophy in verse popular, and his plain style left a mark on Rubén Darío and the Generation of '98, though 20th-century critics were quick to push him out to the edge of the canon.