Calle de Fernando VI

Las Salesas·Justicia

The name honours Ferdinand VI of Bourbon (1713-1759), king of Spain between 1746 and 1759, whose reign was marked by sustained neutrality abroad and by support for the arts and sciences. The official change of name took place on 13 October 1864. Before that, the stretch was called “calle de las Flores” —⁠documented on the Texeira map (1656)⁠— or “calle de la Florida,” a name that appears in 18th-century sources linked to the mansion of doña María de la Vega, Countess of Florida. The street runs through the Justicia quarter, a few metres from the Convent of the Salesas Reales, where the remains of Ferdinand VI himself and of his wife Barbara of Braganza rest.

A street opened between plaza de las Salesas and calle de Hortaleza. Barely 275 metres, yet along that short stretch buildings crowded in that made it one of the liveliest commercial and artisan arteries of inner Madrid. Between 1893 and 1914 came the Longoria Palace (José Grases Riera, 1902-1904), the only fully Art Nouveau building in the quarter, with artificial-stone façades and an iron-and-glass dome, and the La Duquesita confectionery. Number 3 crowned its cornice with eight stone penguins holding barrels, emblem of Cervezas Santander; when it closed in 1969 the premises became the Pub Santa Bárbara, a meeting place during the Transition. The name converses with its neighbours: a few metres away begin calle de Bárbara de Braganza and calle del Marqués de la Ensenada. Ferdinand VI and his queen are the only Spanish monarchs who rest together in Madrid, in the church of Santa Bárbara.

Its names

  • Calle de las Flores / Calle de la FloridaAnterior a 1656 – 1864
  • Calle de Fernando VI13 de octubre de 1864 – actualidad
Sources (10)

Crossings