House of the Towers

The Towers House or the Dávalos Palace is the current School of Art in Úbeda. National Historic Monument since 1921, it was ordered to be constructed during the XVI century by Andrés Dávalos de la Cueva, councilor and commander of the city.

Its façade has plateresque style and would remember you the House of Shells in Salamanca because, as that one, this building has a “shells” way of decoration owing to his founder, a member of the Saint James order.  Two big and cubic towers in both sides have to be pointed out, as the reason of the building name.

You could distinguish three different sections on the façade, decorated with a symbolic ornamentation.  On the first one, the main door is created by a semi-circular arch with large voussoirs and, on the spandrels, there are two busts, one female and the other masculine, surrounded by a laurel wreath. These are a Renaissance ornamental motifs and their symbolic function was to move away the malign beings or spirits, protecting in this way the house entrances. In both sides, two ringed columns frame the façade.

On the second section, the attention is focused on a semi-circular pediment containing the coat of arms of Dávalos and Orozco, hold by two chained savages that symbolize the connection between the family lineage and the humans first origins. There are two windows with balustrade columns in each side. There are some relieves of cornucopias or horn of plenty, symbol of fortune, and facing eagles, an allegory of the lineage immortality.

The third section is formed by a big triangular pediment with the family coat of arms. In both sides, you will see two little semi-circular pediments and, inside them, there is the effigy of Saint James the pilgrim on the left and a female bust on the right. On the top, the building is ended by an open cornice.

Inside, we can find the original courtyard. It has a square floor and a double gallery of semi-circular arches held by Corinthian columns made on marble. On the first floor you will see some shields of the nobility of that time.