Avenida del Regueral and Doctor Rafael Calzada street

Chapter 2/11 · Navia

We are in Navia's expansion district, the part of town that grew in the late 19th and early 20th centuries outside the old walled area. Much of this ground was marshland and mudflats of the estuary, a health hazard and an obstacle to growth. Draining it was mainly the work of the notary Rafael Fernández Calzada, who was born and died in Navia, between 1821 and 1910, and whom the town considers its benefactor.

The street we have just walked is named after his son, Doctor Rafael Calzada, born in Navia in 1854; a plaque marks the house where he was born. A lawyer, he emigrated to Buenos Aires in 1875, where he became the first foreign lawyer to have his degree recognised in Argentina. He was elected republican member of parliament for Madrid on 21 April 1907, and on land that had once been his, near Buenos Aires, Villa Calzada was founded in his honour; today it is the city of Rafael Calzada, in the district of Almirante Brown, twinned with Navia. He died in Buenos Aires in 1929.

At number 14 of the Avenida del Regueral stands the Martínez building, opened on 1 January 1905, with a richly decorated eclectic façade, designed as one of the grand houses of the middle-class expansion. Right next to here, on the Avenida de Ramón Álvarez Valdés, there is also a group of middle-class houses with balconies and glazed bay windows, built with money brought back from America; several are the work of Benigno Rodríguez, who built the Casino. It is said that in this area returning emigrants were called «Americans» rather than «indianos».

Very close, beside the estuary, is the Campoamor park. Let's go there.

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