Salazar Palace

Within the panorama of the civil architecture of the islands, it constitutes an exceptional building. The first references to its construction date back to 1629, with the intervention of stonemasons and carpenters. But it was not until the middle of the 17th century, when the first Count of the Salazar Valley, Cristóbal Lázaro Salazar de Frías, the Master of the Field, erected the building that we know today, which was completed with the commission for the construction of the noble façade in 1681.
The house, a gunsmith’s shop and a traditional Canarian construction, served as the residence of Captain General of the Canary Islands Valhermoso in 1723. And in 1858 it was occupied by the casino “El Porvenir”. Later, it was acquired by the bishop Don Ramón Torrijos y Gómez (1888-1894), as an episcopal residence; use that still remains. On January 23rd 2006 it suffered a fortuitous fire, which has meant the recent reconstruction of the building for the Nivariense Diocese.
The façade has two floors of good height, a central doorway and four large windows protected by protruding iron bars. The windows of the upper body are flanked by Corinthian columns, with a triangular pediment; the central window, with paired columns, ends in a pediment with rounded corners, which supports an attic of carved stone with ornamental motifs, and in the middle the white Carrara marble coat of arms of the Salazar House with its condal crown. At the corners there are two quadrangular towers, higher than the attic, with balconies and stone coppets. In general, it has many ornamental parallels with another example of the island’s Baroque, the Palacio de Nava in the Plaza del Adelantado.
The entrance door, with a modern iron gate bearing the arms of Bishop Torrijos, leads to the inner courtyard. There are columns on both sides, on plinths decorated with lozenges. The three-level stone staircase, built over a vault and covered with an octagonal coffered ceiling, is located in front of the entrance. It leads to the reserved rooms of the Bishopric, its chapel and some rooms with interesting coffered ceilings.
On October 21, 1982, it was agreed that the file for the declaration of the Salazar Palace as a historic-artistic monument would be opened.