Plaza del Niño Jesús
The square takes its name from the Niño Jesús Hospital (Avda. Menéndez Pelayo, 65), founded on 14 January 1877 by María del Carmen Hernández y Espinosa de los Monteros, Duchess of Santoña. The dedication on its façade named the nearby railway station, the neighborhood and, from 1953, the square, formerly called Glorieta del Marqués de Perales.
The name was born of a hospital, traveled to a train station and finally settled on a square.
It all begins on 14 January 1877, when the Duchess of Santoña opened on calle del Laurel the first children’s hospital in Spain. The final building, on Menéndez Pelayo, opened its doors on 1 December 1881. Francisco Jareño y Alarcón had designed it in the Neo-Mudéjar style, and the work gathered gold medals across Europe. Its façade holds three niches; in the central one is the Christ Child that names everything.
The name soon jumped from the hospital to the railway. In July 1886 the terminus of the Tajuña narrow-gauge line opened here, borrowing the name of the neighboring building. The line ran until 1964, when its start point retreated to Vicálvaro, and the freed land was developed soon after. Plaza del Niño Jesús officially received that name in 1953. The Retiro Gate that closes it to the north is much more recent: it was raised in the year 2000.
Its names
- Glorieta del Marqués de PeralesAnterior a 1953
Sources (5)
- Historia del Hospital Infantil Universitario Niño Jesús — Comunidad de Madrid
- Hospital Infantil Universitario Niño Jesús — Wikipedia ES
- Estación de Madrid-Niño Jesús — Wikipedia ES
- Capilla del Hospital del Niño Jesús — Rutas con Historia
- Puerta del Niño Jesús del Retiro — Patrimonio y Paisaje Urbano, Ayuntamiento de Madrid