RENAISSANCE PALACE FOR RENT
“Can Armadams” is Catalan for “The House of the Armadams”. The name derives from an old noble family who used to possess the house, but the building itself has much older roots. It is a beautiful 16th-century city palace, located right next to the Royal Castle and the La Seu Cathedral in the oldest part of Palma. Having seen many eras of the history of this beautiful and enticing Mediterranean city, the foundations of this landmark building go back to Roman and even pre-Roman times.
The patio shows an exposed Roman wall, and the lower levels contain typical Islamic medieval masonry. The whole structure of the house reminds of early Mediterranean construction ideals, and original details such as gargoyles and the family coat of arms can still be seen on the building.
Features
Additional details
This city palace (Casal in Mallorquin), was once the home of a noble family, the Armadams, if you refer in old catalan, or Armadans (it can be writen either way) . The Armadams were very powerful in Mallorca but the family was extinguish by the end of the XVI c. They where landlords, the Estate of Son Armadams, located next to Bellver Castle, used to have a Manor house with a important tower (builted to defend the property from the corsaries). The tower is left as the only remain of the former house. Nowadays, Son Armadams gives name to one of the most beautiful residential areas of actual Palma.
Land owners used to have Manor houses in the land they owned (Possessió, some of them are authentic country palaces). But also a house in town (Casal) to show their power and wealth, and to be also closed to the political and economic spheres. The word Son (acó d’en) refers to the rural property and it means ”land property of Mr.” and the name of the family. The word Can (ca d’en) means ”House of ” and the family name again, and it refers to the city (urban)house.
Descripción. Description
The main entrance is crowned by a renaissance relieve with the latin scriptions representing the Virgin Mary of the Snow an a date 1575.
The facade windows have the cotê d’arms of the Armadams. It also shows some old arches of former doors belonging to the medieval times.
The courtyard keeps an unique antique character, it is very plain, not affected by the late barocque influences (reformations). The main stairway is clearly medieval with few adornos. There are two minor stairways that lead to the estudios. In the center of the patio there is a well.
There is also another well (pozo artesiano) in the place that nowadays occupies a bussines shop, once the carriage shelter (?) of the house. This particular well it is very old and it has a roman origin, since it is located in Estudi General, one of the main streets of the roman city, and it is considered to be a public well to serve the whole roman town.
La casa-patio. The courtyard house
The city house, casa-patio or casal, has an roman origin and it also has a muslim and medival catalan influences from the XIII and XIV c. Houses were built arround the courtyard and it’s the main source of light, normally the streets were narrow and often covered with the boladizos. The courtyard provides also raining water collected in wells. The patio has also a social role and aesthetic funtion as they have been modified according to the different architectural styles (gothic, renaissance or baroque) throughtout history.
The patio was the place to exchange merchandises. The landlords would recieved the tenants’ production of the fields paid as a part of the rent.
Location
Catedral de Mallorca, Palma de Mallorca, España