Mendoza Mansion

Coordinates: 42°25′58.44″N 8°38′51.36″W / 42.4329000°N 8.6476000°W / 42.4329000; -8.6476000
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Mendoza Mansion
Palacete de las Mendoza
Map
General information
TypeMansion
LocationPontevedra, Spain
Coordinates42°25′58.44″N 8°38′51.36″W / 42.4329000°N 8.6476000°W / 42.4329000; -8.6476000
Construction started1878
Completed1880
OwnerProvincial Deputation of Pontevedra
ManagementRias Baixas Tourism
Technical details
Floor count2
Design and construction
Architect(s)Alejandro Sesmero
Website
Official website

The Mendoza mansion is a building located between Santa María Avenue and Arzobispo Malvar Street, at the western end of the old town of Pontevedra (Galicia, Spain). It is currently the headquarters of the Rias Bajas Tourist Office.[1][2][3]

History[edit]

The medieval castle of the Churruchaos (or Archbishops of Santiago de Compostela) and the Archbishop's Towers, whose interpretation centre (CITA) is located nearby, once stood on the site of the manor.[4] In 1877, Soledad Méndez Núñez, sister of the famous sailor Casto Méndez Núñez, bought the land and commissioned the architect Alejandro Rodríguez Sesmero to build the mansion. He is also the author of the imposing 19th century buildings of the Provincial Council of Pontevedra and the City Hall of Pontevedra.[5] This architect was responsible for planning the noble buildings of Pontevedra, once the medieval city wall had been demolished. The mansion was built between 1878 and 1880.[6]

This mansion was the first building in the city to have a running water supply. The architect Sesmero was responsible for planning the running water supply for Pontevedra and its squares.[7] Several 19th century fountains were installed here, one of which is very close to the mansion.[8] Its first inhabitants were its owner, Soledad Méndez Núñez, her sister, Maria del Carmen Clara Méndez Núñez, her husband, José Babiano Rodríguez, and the couple's daughter, who was to become the remarkable painter Carmen Babiano Méndez-Núñez.[9] The house was eventually passed on to Maria and Concepcion Mendoza Babiano, daughters of Carmen Babiano Mendez-Nunez, who were involved in the city's culture and were the last to occupy the small palace in 1971.[10] During their stay, the palace became a meeting place for the important personalities of the time.[11]

The building suffered a certain amount of neglect until the 1980s, when in 1981 it became one of the main filming locations for the television series Los gozos y las sombras by Televisión Española. The Mendoza's mansion is easily recognizable in the series as Doña Mariana's house (Amparo Rivelles), although only its exteriors were used, since the interior scenes were shot in another small palace in Madrid, near Alcalá Street.[12]

It was then bought in the 1990s by a banking entity, Caja Madrid,[13] until the Provincial Deputation of Pontevedra bought it to make it the headquarters of Tourism Rias Baixas, inaugurated for this function on 28 July 2004.

In 2015, an artist from Lugo transformed the trunk and branches of the old dead yew tree in the gardens of the Palacete de las Mendoza into a living sculpture by placing a few berries weighing 40 kilos and 1.10 metres high as artistic elements on the woody skeleton of the yew tree, with which the artist wanted the old tree to bear fruit like never before.[14]

Description[edit]

The building belongs to the eclectic style that prevailed at the end of the 19th century,[15] with elements and concepts inspired by French architecture. It consists of a semi-basement, a ground floor and a first floor. On the ground floor there is a main door and four windows in the walls and on the upper floor there are five balcony doors. The upper part of the windows and doors is decorated with ornamental motifs. The top of the mansion is topped with a circular cornice.

On the façade, the windows are surrounded by neoclassical borders, with Lintels ending in triangular Pediments on the second floor and a circular arch on the first. The Caja Madrid savings bank, which owned the building for some years,[16] renovated the interior and the rooms on the ground floor, the music room, the dining room, the tea room and the imperial wooden staircase, making everything disappear to create the central courtyard. The building is secluded and surrounded by gardens that enhance its architecture.

Culture[edit]

The daily parties of the sisters María and Concha Mendoza Babiano were attended by the most distinguished members of Pontevedra society of the time and the illustrious visitors who came to the city or arrived at the port of Marín-Pontevedra. For several decades, the Mendoza sisters compiled the recipes they asked their guests for, collected on their travels or received from their friends. They ended up creating an unprecedented and valuable private recipe collection for their parties, with dishes from around the world. These recipes were published at the end of 2021 in a book entitled Las 1001 recetas del palacete de las Mendoza[17] · [18] · [19]


Gallery[edit]

  • Façade
    Façade
  • The mansion surrounded by gardens.
    The mansion surrounded by gardens.
  • Decorated dead yew
    Decorated dead yew
  • Sundial in the garden
    Sundial in the garden
  • Camellia Congress 2014
    Camellia Congress 2014

References[edit]

  1. ^ "El Palacete de las Mendoza se convierte hoy en oficina turística". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 27 July 2004.
  2. ^ "La Deputación reabre este martes la oficina de Turismo Rías Baixas en el Palacete das Mendoza". Diario de Pontevedra (in Spanish). 9 June 2020.
  3. ^ "Reapertura de la oficina de Turismo Rías Baixas en el Palacete de las Mendoza". Pontevedra Viva (in Spanish). 9 June 2020.
  4. ^ "El palacete de las Mendoza". Pontevedra Viva (in Spanish). 24 March 2017.
  5. ^ "El proyecto de la obra cumbre de Sesmero cumple 130 años". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 21 February 2013.
  6. ^ Fontoira Surís 2009, p. 523.
  7. ^ "De este agua sí beberé". Diario de Pontevedra (in Spanish). 20 June 2015.
  8. ^ "Las artísticas fuentes de hierro y el enigma de la 5ª fuente". Pontevedra Viva (in Spanish). 6 January 2017.
  9. ^ "Carmen Babiano, pontevedresa pionera en el arte femenino". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 30 March 2014.
  10. ^ "El palacete de las Mendoza". Pontevedra Viva (in Spanish). 24 March 2017.
  11. ^ "El marquesado de Augusto González Besada". Diario de Pontevedra (in Spanish). 17 December 2016.
  12. ^ "«Los gozos y las sombras», treinta años después del rodaje". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 5 March 2011.
  13. ^ "La pugna por la compra del Palacete de las Mendoza". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 8 April 2017.
  14. ^ "El viejo tejo del Palacete de Mendoza revive convertirdo en una escultura". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 28 March 2015.
  15. ^ "El palacete de las Mendoza". Pontevedra Viva (in Spanish). 24 March 2017.
  16. ^ "La pugna por la compra del Palacete de las Mendoza". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 8 April 2017.
  17. ^ "Las hermanas Mendoza y sus mil y una recetas". Hoy (Extremadura) (in Spanish). 28 January 2022.
  18. ^ "Desempolvando en Pontevedra un recetario con más de cien años de historia". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 5 February 2022.
  19. ^ "Las recetas de las hermanas Mendoza, manjares inauditos de la Galicia de principios del siglo XX". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 5 May 2022.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Fontoira Surís, Rafael (2009). Pontevedra Monumental. Deputación de Pontevedra. ISBN 978-84-8457-327-2.

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Palacete das Mendoza, Pontevedra.
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