Casa de Tócame Roque, Historical building in Justicia district, Madrid, Spain.

Casa de Tócame Roque is a historical building in the Justicia district with wrought iron balconies, wooden windows, and decorative plasterwork across its brick facade. Inside, traditional courtyards and wooden framework walls create the character that defines the residence.

The Casa de Tócame Roque was a legendary, overcrowded corrala at the end of Calle de Barquillo, in Madrid's Justicia district, home to 72 families and, on its ground floor, blacksmiths' forges worked by seventy smiths. When unpaid rents led the owners to seek demolition around 1850, the tenants barricaded themselves in and the proceedings dragged on, with one family evicted every two months. A badly drafted inheritance between the brothers Juan and Roque gave the house its name.

The name comes from a legal quarrel between the brothers Juan and Roque over a badly drafted inheritance, which gave rise to the exchange "tócame a mí" / "no, tócame a mí". The phrase "ser como la casa de tócame Roque" entered Madrid speech for a noisy, quarrelsome household. Ramón de la Cruz used the house in a 1791 sainete, and Galdós set scenes there in Napoleón en Chamartín.

The building stood at the end of Calle de Barquillo, in the Justicia district; the site is reached on foot from Chueca or Alonso Martínez. The corrala itself no longer exists, so look for the street position and the surrounding chispero-era blocks rather than a standing facade.

The name comes from a lawsuit between the brothers Juan and Roque over a badly drafted inheritance, which left unclear which of them was the rightful heir; each replied to the other «tócame a mí». The phrase passed into Madrid speech for a noisy, quarrelsome household.