Calle de Churruca

Calle de Churruca, in Justicia, was born of an urban-planning operation in the last third of the 19th century. The council laid out a grid over some peculiar plots: those once occupied by the municipal snow wells, which since 1607 had stored ice on both sides of Fuencarral. The new streets were given the names of illustrious sailors, and so Churruca, Apodaca and Barceló were born. Cosme Damián Churruca was a naval brigadier, cartographer and hydrographer. He drew spherical charts of the Antilles, wrote a treatise on naval gunnery and devised an artillery firing mechanism. At Trafalgar he commanded the San Juan Nepomuceno; he died that same day and was promoted to admiral posthumously. The 20th century filled the street with literary figures. Manuel Machado lived at number 15 until his death in 1947; Enrique Jardiel Poncela had lived in the same building, and Almudena Grandes was born on this street.