La Casa Grande

0, Cabra del Santo Cristo

The so-called Casa Grande is flanking the south side of the Plaza de Abajo -popular denomination-, a large public space that functions and performs the functions of a main square in any Castilian town.

It is actually a wide rectangle, divided into three stories in height and with an airy lookout tower on the east -or left- side. Very frequent typology in Granada, especially in the neighborhoods of San Jerónimo, San Matías and La Magdalena. Although, unlike here, it does not present a porticoed and emblazoned courtyard in its centralizer, which leads us to think that it was not originally a foundation of a family -more or less aristocratic- for their private residence, so we suspect that it would have another purpose.

That same similarity with Granada also occurs from the constructive point of view. Thus, if brick is used for the wall surfaces, for the structural elements, jambs, lintels and pediments, stonework is used -in this case the sandstone so abundant in the place-, these last elements being the ones that define it from the point of stylistic view.

Consequently we are facing an interesting example of a typical house of the full Baroque -second half of the XVII-, where there is still a very strong presence of the elements of Mudejar tradition, its facade being very well resolved, since its interior only highlights the dome on pendentives that originally finished off the staircase.

On the first floor, whose façade with a honeycombed arch does not appear as the center of the complex, its beautiful lintel windows stand out, crowned by beautiful curved and broken pediments. In the second, the noblest one, the rhythms are changed, since they are small lintel windows with the same type of pediment, except the one located above the door, which is a large balcony framed by a beautiful alfiz, and in both bodies there is a large quality grating. Lastly, a wide, overhanging cornice separates them from the latter with a proliferation of semicircular windows.

Several hypotheses have been considered about the promoters of its construction. At times we think that it could be the great inn that the first Marquis de la Rambla ordered to be built in the town, of which we even have several works payments. However, from some documents it seems to be deduced that it was built by the executors and patrons of the foundation created by Mother Marta de Jesús -the so-called Casa Almagro- of the square- to also use it as a inn to house travelers and carriages, that his income would help defray the expenses of the Hospital de la Misericordia.