Espoz y Mina Street is an urban street in Madrid, Community of Madrid, Spain, in the Sol neighborhood, located between Puerta del Sol and Plaza del Ángel, in a south-north orientation.
It is dedicated to Francisco Espoz y Mina Ilundáin, a guerrilla and military leader of the Spanish War of Independence.
The street that was originally called “narrow Majaderitos Street” was laid out on land that was once the orchard of the Victoria convent, running to Calle de Cádiz, and then continuing to Calle de la Cruz and the Plaza del Ángel, when around 1860 the theatre that had been there and which had previously been a corral de comedias was demolished.
The new, airy street attracted commercial activity, with the creation of several covered galleries over passages, such as the Matheu and the Nueva Galería, built in 1849 by Aníbal Álvarez Bouquel, which did not prosper. In front of Matheu’s another passage was opened in the last third of the 19th century, bordered by the “Bazar X” and the “Bazar Comercial” at their confluence with Carretas Street.
Finally, in this tangle of alleys, reaching the end of the street, is the ‘alley of the cat’, immortalised by Valle Inclán in his grotesque Luces de bohemia.
Neighbours
The actress María Álvarez Tubau was born at number 14.
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