Calle de las Huertas (Madrid)

Calle de las Huertas is a street in Madrid, Community of Madrid, Spain, in the Cortes neighborhood (in the urban redoubt of the Barrio de las Letras, also called the Muses and the Comedians), in the Centro district. It runs parallel to Calle de Atocha, from Plaza del Ángel to Plaza de la Platería de Martínez.

It takes its name from the “huertas del prado” (orchards of the meadow) that existed in the 17th century on the land adjacent to the Prado de los Jerónimos). Along its route, buildings such as the one called Nuevo Rezado and the Santoña and Molins palaces are preserved, some of which were later occupied by institutions such as the Royal Academy of History.

Buildings and neighbours

At the beginning of the street, on the corner with Calle del Príncipe, the Palacio de Santoña is preserved, originally owned by Ruy López de Vega, and later inhabited by various figures: aristocrats such as Juan Manuel de Manzanedo (Duke of Santoña), exiled princes such as Muley Xeque, “the Black Prince”; or politicians such as José Canalejas Méndez. Finally, the building was sold on June 6, 1933 to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Madrid. At number 6, Inocencio Riesco Le Grand, José Moreno Llamas, Manuel Pita and José Repullés founded the Society for the Promotion of the Arts on 7 November 1837 as a teaching centre for the working classes.

Going down the street, there are the facades of the buildings occupied by the Royal Academy of History, such as the Nuevo Rezado, the work of Juan de Villanueva and the palace of the Marquis of Molins, at number 2 on Calle del Amor de Dios, with a façade facing Calle de las Huertas.

At number 30, on the corner of Calle del León, the national headquarters of the General Association of Cattle Ranchers, heir to the Council of the Mesta, was located in whose building Leandro Rubio, consultant of the said institution and State Councillor, died.

Miguel de Cervantes lived at number 16 of this street, and that in the building at number 15 the minister Manuel Orovio Echagüe, author of the Orovio Decree, died on May 18, 1883.