Sainz de Baranda in 1940: Not Luxury, But Far From Móstoles

From "Boundary Street" to Desired Neighborhood: Mari Carmen's Apartment

The address is in Madrid's Retiro district, in the Sainz de Baranda area. An 87-year-old wheelchair-bound woman lives there, facing eviction from the home her family moved into in 1957. The label attached to the property—"luxury"—doesn't fit with what the street was like eighty years ago or what it is today.

Was Sainz de Baranda a Luxury Neighborhood in the 1940s?

No, and the street's very name gives it away: until well into the 20th century, it was called calle del Límite (Boundary Street) because it was literally the city's eastern border. The area combined vacant lots, farmland, and industrial land along the Arganda train tracks, and over decades, shantytowns sprang up nearby, with places known as "cuesta del ciego" (blind man's hill).

However, calling it a working-class or marginal neighborhood is a stretch. The Sainz de Baranda and Narváez area is adjacent to the Barrio de Salamanca and Retiro Park, and some argue it always functioned as a middle-class area: civil servants, professionals, merchants. Neither luxury nor poverty. What was happening then—and it's worth remembering—is that half of Madrid was destroyed after the war, and a good house could be fifty meters from a slum.

Apartment Size and Rent Paid

This is where public information becomes elusive. The apartment's size hasn't been detailed anywhere, although estimates circulating in the area, based on the building's age and the property's layout, suggest over 100 square meters, with some versions mentioning 90 square meters and three rooms.

What is known is the rent: according to versions of the case, the original contract had expired, and the tenant was paying between one-fourth and one-fifth of what a property of that type would command today. That differential—not the adjective "luxury"—is the real crux of the matter. And there's a curious analogy that summarizes the flaw in the historical reasoning: Manhattan was bought for $24, yet no one would use that price to value an Upper East Side penthouse.

Rejected Residence Placement

The case is complicated by two facts that don't fit the simple narrative. First: the Community of Madrid offered the tenant a place in a residence, skipping the waiting list, and the offer was rejected. Second: housing is a regional responsibility, and the conflict erupts during the pre-campaign period, turning any detail into ammunition.

From there, everyone focuses on what suits them. Some point to the owner or the fund; others, to social services that didn't intervene earlier; others, to the electoral calendar. The precise calculation of square meters, rent, and market value has been done, and it's not exactly reassuring.

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That an 87-year-old woman ends up in court over a house that was never a mansion says little about how the case has been presented. What if the problem wasn't the adjective, but that no one is interested in looking at the square meters?