Description
Closed and very difficult to visit. Built from 1904 onwards as a working farm estate and later remodelled into a private noble residence for receiving dignitaries. Its owner was the Marquis of Rincón de San Ildefonso, Don José del Prado y Palacio, Minister of Public Instruction under King Alfonso XIII and one of the great landowners of the area. It is approached through English-style gardens with fountains. It incorporates a Renaissance courtyard taken from a demolished palace in Andújar — that of the Marquis of Puente de la Virgen, formerly located in Andújar's Plaza de España, today Plaza de la Constitución. The building included a small theatre and a hall furnished with walnut furniture.The Hacienda del Pilar, which takes its name from the image of the Virgin under this title placed on its façade, was built from 1904 onwards as a working farm estate and later remodelled into a private noble residence for receiving dignitaries. Owned by José del Prado y Palacio, former Minister of Public Instruction and Marquis of Rincón de San Ildefonso, it hosted Alfonso XIII during his visit to Jaén in 1916. It was approached through carefully tended English-style gardens with a monumental fountain at their centre and another, in Seville style, to one side. The façade, with two columned galleries — one of them glazed — featured wooden columns and finely worked ironwork, all in a markedly eclectic style. Inside, this eclecticism continued with an element of special interest: a Renaissance courtyard belonging to a palace in Andújar, demolished in the second decade of the century and acquired and transferred to El Pilar by its owner. Nine slender columns, eight arches with cushioned coffering, spandrels, medallions and noble coats of arms were removed from their original building and brought here, along with a fountain with a wide basin, four shells and two bowls, decorated with caryatids. The building also had spacious rooms, a small theatre and a hall with fine furnishings.
