The Rehabilitation of the Morisco-era House at Calle San Buenaventura 7, Albaicín (Granada): An Over Fifty-Year-Long Project

An exceptional 16th c. house has been restored after having being abandoned and in ruins for over half a century. The new owners entrusted the School of Arab Studies (CSIC) with the restoration project and technical direction of the works in 2019. The goal was to recover the architectural values of this building as well as its original use as a single-family home. The house was built by using traditional techniques and organized around a rectangular patio with porticos and wooden galleries on all four sides. It served as the Rectory of the parish of El Salvador from the late 19th c. to mid-20th c. Fortunately, drawings produced by M. Gómez-Moreno around 1874, as well as descriptions and other sketches from 1887 had been preserved. This documentation has been essential, since the south wing fully collapsed a few years later. In 1969, a cultural association acquired the building, which by then was practically in ruins, promoting two first partial restoration projects which were financed by the Ministry of Culture in 1970 and 1971. After two decades of abandonment, another phase of restoration was undertaken, which mainly served the purpose of repairing the roofs and consolidating the galleries. The house has great heritage interest due to its carved wood and paneled ceilings. The intervention criteria have been based on those used by L. Torres Balbás in the recovery of the coeval Casa del Chapiz in 1929-1932. Its original values have been maintained, as the patio and its porticos and galleries remain opened. The spatial unity of the main rooms has been preserved as well. Traditional building techniques and materials have been used (load-bearing walls, lime mortar, carved corbels, ceramic floors, etc.), while current amenities (good thermal insulation, underfloor heating and cooling, lift, etc.) have been taken into consideration.