Lavapiés

The north side of the ruins face the Plaza Augustin Lara, named after the 20th century Mexican composer who wrote a song about Madrid which includes the phrase "I'll make you the empress of Lavapiés".

In the late 1980s and 1990s, Lavapiés had acquired a reputation as a "vertical slum", with its tenement blocks either empty or occupied by older people paying low rents.

[citation needed] West of Calle Ave María has a very high percentage of immigrant residents and shops and restaurants are almost exclusively owned by Chinese, Indians, Bangladeshis, Maghrebis and Middle Easterners.

[citation needed] East of Calle Ave María, while still maintaining a socialist atmosphere relative to the other areas of Madrid, has a far higher native Spanish population and culinary/night scene.

[citation needed] There is a consistent police presence in Plaza de Lavapiés, as well as a high level of open drug dealing.

The architecture of Lavapiés, much like other barrios of Madrid (including Malasaña, La Latina and Chueca) is rather uniform with similar height, windows, balconies, pastel colours and shop/apartment set up.