In 1862, when a new urban nomenclature was adopted, the road was named jirón Caylloma, after the province of the same name. Prior to this renaming, each block (cuadra) had a unique name:
Block 1: Afligidos. According to José Gálvez Barrenechea, poet Acisclo Villarán [es] once wrote that a large number persons afflicted by an earthquake sought refuge in the street, while José de la Riva-Agüero y Osma believed that an image of a denomination of the same name brought from Spain was instead the source for the street's nomenclature. Colonel Francisco Bolognesi was born on this street.[4] His birthplace became a museum in 1975.[1]
Block 2: Argandoña, after Domingo Gonzáles de Argandoña, treasurer of the Cathedral of Lima, who lived there.[5]
Block 4: Puerta Falsa de la Comedia or Arévalo, the latter after a resident whose identity is disputed between Juan Arévalo de Espinosa (according to Luis A. Eguiguren) and Andrés de Arévalo Ballesteros (according to Juan Bromley), and the former after an entrance to a corral de comedias located there.[7]
Block 5: Acequia Alta, after the acequia that ran through its path.[8]
Block 6: Villegas, most likely after retired captain José de Villegas, who owned a property there.[9]
The home of poet José Santos Chocano is located in the former Argandoña street. The 479.58 m2 building was built c. 1864-1865, inhabited by Chocano's family since 1874. He was born on May 14 of the following year. In 1922, while in a ceremony at the Palacio de la Exposición with Augusto B. Leguía, a plaque was placed in his home, the work of sculptor David Lozano.[11]
Also located in the street is the Art Nouveau-decorated Pancorvo Building, named after the Pancorvo Brothers' company, who owned it.[11]
By 2012, the street was reported to be extremely dangerous at night due to its number of hostile homeless persons and criminals.[13]
The street saw two fires in 2023, the first took place in May as a result of a failed irregular vacancy attempt which led to 40 arrests,[14] and the second one took place in October, close to the Casa de Bolognesi, after an illegal warehouse caught on fire.[15]