The Origin of Calle Larios
300 metres of luxury in the heart of Málaga
This street starts at Plaza de la Constitución and continues to the Marqués de Larios roundabout. The street is 300 metres long and 16 metres wide. It is named after the Marqués de Larios in honour of Manuel Domingo Larios, the second Marqués de Larios. The first project for the opening of Calle Larios was undertaken by the engineer José María Sancha, although it was later modified to have its current layout. That initial project plotted the street, starting from the Plaza de la Constitución as it does now, but ran through Toril, Salinas, Desengaño (now Strachan), Plaza del Obispo, Sancha de Lara and San Juan de Dios.
On May 1, 1880, with Alarcón Lujan, the mayor of Málaga at the time, the City Council made public the guidelines for a joint-stock company to promote the construction of the street. The company's capital was set at one million pesetas, which were distributed in forty shares of 25,000 pesetas each. The first shares were sold to the companies Hijos de Manuel Heredia, Hijos de Manuel Larios, Antonio Campos Garín, Jorge Loring, and Simón Castell. By agreement on May 11, 1887 with the City Council and Liborio García as mayor, the Larios House took responsibility for the works.
The buildings could not be more than 20 metres high, the works had to be completed within four years, and the land that was to be occupied by the street (4,800 square metres) would be ceded to the city. To carry out the project, houses in the streets of Siete Revueltas, San Juan de los Reyes, Callejón de Gato, Almacenes, Callejón del Fraile, Callejón del Perro, San Bernardo el Viejo, Salinas, Postas, Espartería and Don Juan Díaz were expropriated.
Work began on May 15, 1887, with the architect Eduardo Strachan Viana-Cárdenas overseeing the day-to-day construction, personally managing the 1200 construction workers, masons, plumbers, carpenters, ironworkers, and other trades involved, who were hired by José Hidalgo Espildora. Over the years, Espildora would become the owner of the Fabril Malagueña and president of the Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Navigation.
Antonio Baena Gómez, who would later become an independent builder and the first president of the Brotherhood of Cofradías, worked on the construction of Calle Larios. The new street was handed over to the City Council, by then presided over by Mayor Sebastián Souvirón Torres, on August 27, 1891. The blessing was given by the bishop of the diocese Marcelo Spínola y Maestre, who was later appointed Archbishop of Seville. On behalf of the Larios House, in the absence of the Marquis, the general attorney Antonio Jiménez Astorga expressed his gratitude.
The first paving was done with square wooden pegs, which gave the street floor an elegant parquet look. Sixteen years later, in September 1907, the historic "flood" caused by the overflow of the Guadalmedina River lifted the wooden pegs, which had to be replaced with granite ones. In 2002, with Francisco de la Torre Prados as mayor, after a deep renovation, the new pedestrian street and Plaza de la Constitución were reopened.
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