Palace of Cienfuegos de Peñalba, Pola de Allande, Spain

The Palace of Cienfuegos de Peñalba arises on a hill near Pola de Allande. It was originally built in the 15th century on the site of an ancient fort, but has been refurbished so that the only remaining Gothic elements are on the lowest level.

The original owners were in the Ponce lineage, but it passed to the Counts de Luna and in 1515 to the Cienfuegos family lines. Around 1520 Rodrigo González de Cienfuegos, lord of Allande, undertook renovations to rebuild the property. In the eighteenth century, the property became the residence of the Count of Peñalba who renovated it to suit his tastes.

The Palace has L-shaped plan and is marked by three solid towers, which are not crenellated, adding to the monumental elements of the building and leading to its appearance of strong defenses. Of the three towers, the two oldest are the square ones and the most recent is rectangular. The last one was added as a housing area in the nineteenth century. It contains 23 bedrooms, as well as a hall, kitchen, living room, lounge, and oratory. The rectangular courtyard has little decoration or ornamentation. Without porticoes the first floor has a wooden gallery supported by thick, rough masonry columns. There are also multiple stables.

In 2008 a rehabilitation project was completed which recovered some of the shapes and colors from the 1888 gallery which was added to the main tower at that time.

References:

Wikipedia

Palaces, manors and town halls in Spain

User Reviews

JOSE LUIS FERNANDEZ RODRIGUEZ (4 years ago)
Palace of a hundred fires? Ha ha ha it will be Palace of a hundred trees !!!! It is totally covered by trees that they have planted. It is seen that they had no place on the mountain.

A.A Tapia&Quiros (5 years ago)
Thanks to the owner who showed us the patio, very kind

Lewis Engel (5 years ago)
The Palace of the Cienfuegos, or of the Lords of Allande, or of the Counts of Marcel de Peñalba, is an abandoned noble palace, located in the Asturian council of Allande, Spain. It has been declared an Asset of Cultural Interest since 1994. On the basis of a primitive building from the 14th century, it was rebuilt around 1520 by Rodrigo González de Cienfuegos, lord of Allande, later undergoing various renovations so that only the lower part remains from the Gothic period . It was very reformed in the 18th century by Baltasar González de Cienfuegos, its owner, 5th Count of Marcel de Peñalba. Of marked defensive character, the palace has an L-shaped plan and is reinforced by three solid towers, which give it great monumentality. These towers, covered with four slopes, must have been crenellated in origin and toppled at the beginning of the Modern Age. The two oldest are square. The one at the end, with a rectangular floor plan, shows that it was enlarged in modern times to house the noble rooms. And in the 19th century a popular style gallery was added, a traditional element in Asturian houses. The sobriety of the lines of the complex and almost total de-ornamentation are barely attenuated in the rear patio, which preserves various decorative elements of a Renaissance character. This rectangular courtyard is surrounded at the height of the first floor by a continuous wooden gallery, which rests on thick and rough masonry columns. In recent years, partial arrangements have been made to prevent its collapse, having completed in 2008 the rehabilitation and recovery of the original shapes and colors of the gallery attached to the main tower, which dates from around 1888.

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