This is a brief outline of the particular kind of dwellings used by a particular group of people (from the upper classes) in Zaragoza, the capital of the Reign of Aragón (Corona de Aragón) during the Renaissance. The typology of these Renaissance civil houses is called casas-palacio, in English palace houses (which is how they were named by the locals).

 

After the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the hegemony of the Mediterranean Sea by the Crown of Aragón was complete.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, after the marriage of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragón (The Catholic Monarchs), all fighting between both kingdoms ended and a division of the oceans was established.

 

During that period an expansion of the city of Zaragoza took place and it is when the definition of the Aragonese Palace is fixed.

 

All these events made easier the development of a commercial and mercantile character of the citizens in Zaragoza. At a certain point, of the three most important markets (lonjas) of the Crown, it was said: “Barcelona, the rich one; Valencia, the beautiful one; and Zaragoza the fed up one".

 

As a consequence of the life and activity of the city, most of the original owners of these palace-houses were traders, businessmen, bankers or people from the noble class (or people who could buy a nobility title); wealthy, in general. That is the reason why rich citizens began to buy nobility titles that were sold by the Catholic Monarchs, and they started to build great houses in order to show their wealth, their money, their power and social status.

 

At the beginning of the century, the capital of the Crown of Aragón had more than 25.000 inhabitants; it is believed that there were more than 200 manor houses only inside the city area. The same happened in other cities of the region, in those that belonged to the mostly bishopry of Pope Benedictus XIII (as known as Pope Luna, in English (‘Pope Moon’), such as Tarazona, Illueca, Morata, Calatayud and Daroca.

 

Gaspar de Berreiros illustrated the prosperous times of the period:

Gaspar was a Portuguese traveller who once wrote: “Zaragoza has got the best

houses of Spain except for Barcelona that has the same wealth but not better...

the Coso Street is the most beautiful that can possibly be, and people compare it

to the Corso Street in Rome; thus, both are wide and bright”.

 

Precisely, Coso Street was a brand new street in Renaissance times, and it

surrounded the whole city. Before the Coso Street was made, its layout was

the ditch and the walls of the Roman City, Caesaraugusta, the origin of Zaragoza.

But at this time, stones were removed from the former city walls and the ditch

was filled with sand; so, a new street was created where the beautiful people

could erect their homes, according to the new style, cultural tendency and

urbanism of the Renaissance. And that is why both sides of this street were

filled up with palaces. But, nowadays, only two of these palaces are still standing, 

, the House of Morata and the House of Condes de Sástago.

In Spanish, the name Coso Street is easy to understand, for it comes from the

Spanish word foso, which means ‘ditch’. However, not all palace houses were on

this street; there were others inside the city: close to the market, in High Street,

Manifestación Street, or near the Ebro River. It is important to point out that the                                        IDENTIFICATION OF THE RENAISSANCE HOUSES IN THE CITY

Coso Street surrounded the city and, more or less, closed around it completely.

 

Nowadays, a number of ten civil buildings are still standing, but, fortunately, all of them are safe today thanks to legal regulations. Most of them have become interesting public buildings, like museums, libraries, Court Halls, or have any similar uses; therefore, anyone can visit them.

 

 

 

BUILDERS                                                                                    .

 

In general, two different kinds of workers were involved in the construction of these Palace Houses.

 

Most of the people working with bricks were Muslim in origin; they were the so called mudéjares, and their artwork is known as Mudéjar Style.

 

On the other hand, most of the people who worked,with stone came in general from the North of Spain. We know this from the inscriptions on the stones.

 

The style of this type of architecture is a mix between the traditional use of architecture of the region and the new style arriving from the Renaissance Republics in Italy.

 

 

 

MATERIALS                                                                                 .

 

Materials used in the buildings are bricks for the walls of every construction.

 

Use of the stones from the Roman walls for the structural points, like columns in the patios (courtyards), corners,  lintels, short and long work at the corners and in basements (Casa Morata).

 

Sometimes the workers changed the stones for pieces taken from local materials, such as alabaster: for instance at the upper arcades of the courtyards (Casa Montemuzo) or just in decorative details.

 

Most of the timber used for the construction of the ships for the Spanish Armada, as well as that for the construction of many auxiliary elements in these houses, was taken from the near Monegros Woods. In Spanish, Monegros comes from montes negros (black mounts), but today the place looks more like a desert, there are no trees. However, for the visible parts of the building, for instance the eaves or in coffer ceilings, Pyrenean wood was carried along the Gallego River to the building sites.

 

Glaze tiles were another material used in these constructions, in the skirting boards inside the rooms, as well as in small ornaments in patios, for example in Casa Luna.

 

 

 

TYPOLOGY AND TYPICAL CHARACTERISTICS                              .

 

These Palace Houses usually have many storeys: a low floor, a piano nobile (main floor) and an attic, which generally consists of a typical arched gallery, with very large overhanging eaves made of timber.

 

Exterior walls are made of bricks, without using any mortar and in general they have a sober appearance. The low windows on the ground floor are usually covered by iron grills on the piano nobile, windows are usually rectangular in shape, in vertical position, without balconies. The balcony is an addition of the 18th century. The façade details are found usually on the arched gallery and on the eaves.

 

In most cases, the access door is a round arched one.

 

The most characteristic element of the Zaragoza palace houses is the courtyard (patio). Every house has its own one, and it represents the soul of the house. On the ground floor, the commercial activity of the owner of the house takes place. You can find a store there when the house has no cellar. The client, arriving there by all possible means (on foot, on a horse or in a carriage, etc) would be received in the patios. The piano nobile, on the upper gallery of the court was for the owners; and the last floor was for the servants, just under the roof.

 

Generally, but not in all the cases, in the piano nobile the most prominence of details was only given to the Hall of Honour and the bedroom of the owner, usually by building coffering ceilings in them.

 

The status of the palace houses was noticeable in the following elements:

 

Façade:           - Surface of the façade and number of windows, the bigger the richer.

                        - Quantity of stone used (lintels, dressings in main doors and quoins)

                        - Ornamentation

                        - Quality of the eaves/virtuosity employed at the eaves artwork

           

Courtyard:       - Number of columns

                         - Size (the wider, the more representative of power)

                         - Use of rings in the shaft of columns, after the Italian style; most of them were brought from the Genoa port.

                         - Staircases to access the piano nobile.

                         - Ornamentation of grills and the upper gallery.

 

 

 

THE PRESENT HOUSES                                                                  .

 

Along the centuries, most of the houses which remain still standing today, have been modified in their original appearance, having had even many of their elements blown up, or in some cases with the whole inside even disappeared.

 

The people of the region named luna the courtyard or patio, because from there it is possible to see the moon from there.

 

 

CASA DONLOPE                                                                                 1530-1540

Home of the jurist Miguel Donlope, this was one of the richest houses, and one of the first ones; therefore, it set a tendency.

Space is organized in three storeys, with an access under a round arch, vertical windows, a gallery of corbelled arches on the third storey and timber eaves in Classical Style.

The court has columns with rings in Ionic Style on the ground floor and columns in Tuscan Style on the upper gallery.

The courtyard stair with a timber cover.

Rich plaster ornamentation made in plaster in columns, arch spandrels and parapets in the court and on the stairs.

Timber coffered ceilings at the piano nobile.

Since 1912, this house holds the head office of the Royal Fraternity of Mounted Knights of Cavalry (Real Maestranza de Caballería) of the city.

 

 

CASA GABRIEL ZAPORTA

Property of a rich Jewish merchant, the construction of this house began in 1546, close to the Jewish Quarter (aljama) of the city.

From this house, trading at the Lonja and commerce on the Ebro River were controlled.

In 1903 this house was demolished  in order to erect the new Ibercaja Headquarters.

Thanks to a Parisian antique dealer, the courtyard was maintained, and it was restored by the Ibercaja Company in 1958.

The court stands on a square and has eight caryatid columns.     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                             

                                                                            SECTION AND STAIRS ACCORDING TO A. N. PRENTICE                                                                                         PATIO DE LA INFANTA BY PACO ELVIRA

 

 

 

CASA AGUILAR OR  DE LOS PARDO                                                1550-1570

Home of Diego Aguilar, Master of the Emperor’s Post.

It followed the design of Gabriel Zaporta’s Palace.

Only the original appearance of the façade and the luna are still remaining.

Sober, plain façade.

Portal with a lintel.

The balcony has ogee arches.

The eaves have wooden coffers in Gothic Style.

Nowadays it holds the Camón Aznar Museum, the only one in the world where you can watch the complete collection of Goya’s engravings.

 

CASA DE LOS MORLANES                                                               1555

Nowadays, only the original façade remains, made up of face bricks

The windows on the piano nobile have a frieze with tapered pilasters

Great portal with a round arch.

The basements at the corners are made of stone.       

 

 

CASA ARMAS                                                                                     End of the 15th century

Traditional three-storey arrangement with wine cellars in the basement.

Façade made of face brick.

Small arched arcade used as viewpoint.

Portal with a round arch.

Ogee arch made of plaster.                                                                                                                          

Roofs with Mudéjar woodwork.

 

 

CASA DE LOS CONDES DE ARGILLO                                                1659-1661

Property of Francisco Sanz de Cortés, who ordered the construction of this building as an enlargement of the house that stayed at the front side.

The building shows a transition between Renaissance and Baroque Style.

Nowadays, only the original appearance of the façade and the luna are still remaining.

Façade made of face brick.

Blind small round arches,

Eaves made of carved timber from the Pyrenees, with a strong projection, very voluminous and highly expressive.

Great portal with a round arch and large windows, all of their frames made of black stone of Calatorao, in contrast to the brickwork.

Square courtyard with eight columns in Tuscan Style made of Calatorao stone (base, ring and capital) and also of alabaster (shaft).

Frieze of the inner court made of Pyrenean timber, too.

Monumental staircase with a dome with pendentives made of plaster.

Nowadays, this house holds the Pablo Gargallo Museum.

 

 

CASA AZARA                                         

Transition from Gothic to the Renaissance Style.

Nowadays, only the round arched portal and the small arched gallery at the side wall still remain in their original appearance.

Court with four columns in Ionic Style at the ground floor and columns in Gothic Style at the upper gallery with mixtilinear arches.

At present, it holds the Historic Provincial Archive of Zaragoza.

 

 

CASA DE LOS CONDES DE SÁSTAGO                                              1570-74

Home of Don Artal of Alagón, third Count of Sástago and Viceroy of Aragón; it is seated on the Coso.

It was the most beautiful and vast house in the whole city at its time, and was a residence for royalty and higher nobility members.

This building has been strongly altered by the different uses undertaken (like the home and headquarters of General Palafox, or a casino); it was damaged also by the fire in St. Francis Convent during the Peninsular War and by the Lisbon earthquake in 1755.

Face brick, in a lighter colour than the present one, with seven vertical windows and a double portal with round arches (in Baroque Style) which provides an access to the great arcade of the patio.

Hall of the Throne at the piano nobile.

It had a garden, behind.

 

 

CASA LUNA

Located on the Coso, its construction began in 1551.

Residence of Pedro Martínez de Luna, first Count of Morata and Viceroy of Aragón, related to the Pope Luna.

Traditional arrangement in three storeys with towers at both sides.

For the basement of the façade ashlars taken from the Roman city walls were used. The rest of the façade is made of face brick.

Large portal with a round arch and a frieze, made of stone and flanked by two stone statues: they represent both Hercules and Theseus.

The large patio has six columns on each side and the upper gallery is closed.

The basement at the court is made of polychrome ceramic: green and white.

 

 

CASA DE LOS TORRERO                                                                    End of the 15th century and beginning of the 16th century

Home of Miguel Torrero, in the city it is one of the oldest houses of that time.

It is still standing: the façade (upper arcade, eaves, brickwork in the walls and access under a round arch), the courtyard in the inside, the group formed by the hall and side rooms and the store floor (cillero) in traditional typology.

 

 

CASA DE LOS MARQUESES DE MONTEMUZO                                 End of the 16th century

Traditional arrangement in three storeys with patio inside.

Only the façade and patio have still their original appearance.

Columns in Ionic Style, in both two floors of the luna.

The columns have rings and on the upper gallery the spandrels of the round arches have a relief.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                CASA MORATA BY PACO ELVIRA          STAIRS OF ROYAL FRATERNITY OF MOUNTED KNIGHTS OF CAVALRY BY PACO ELVIRA

 

 

 

VOCABULARY                                                                             .

 

LUNA / COURTYARD

It is an open ground area surrounded by buildings or walls which it is possible to see the moon. Luna means moon.

 

REAL MAESTRANZA DE CABALLERIA ROYAL FRATERNITY OF MOUNTED KNIGHTS OF CAVALRY

It was created in 1819 by King Ferdinand VII in response to the old Brotherhood of St. George (created in 1505 by King Ferdinand II of Aragón-King Ferdinandus). Both of them wanted to ensure that the local nobility were able to organize cavalry units should they be required for defensive or military purposes. Today, the Real Maestranza is a non-profit body which, true to its origins, maintains a horse-riding school as its mark of identity.

 

MUDÉJAR

Spanish Moor who was permitted to stay in Spain after the Christian Reconquest.

Relating to a style of architecture originated by Mudéjares.

 

RING

It is a typical detail or ornament in the shaft of the columns of the courtyard.

 

ALJAMA

It is referred to the neighbourhood where the Jewish or Muslin people lived in the Spanish Medieval cities.