HOUSE OF THE SEXMEROS OF THE LAND

The House of the Sexmeros was built in 1513 and originally belonged to the Rodríguez de las Varillas, Counts of Grajal. Over time, it passed through different owners until, in 1733, the institution of the Sexmeros acquired it along with the annexed dwellings, which were transformed into granaries. The inscription located above the door arch attests to this: «Esta casa y las azesorias son de los 4 qvartos de la tiera desta civd qve se compraron sin azer repartimiento alguno siendo sesmeros… Año de 1713».

The Sexmeros were the four councilors who represented the Cuartos de la Tierra in the City Council, that is, the rural regions under the city's jurisdiction. Their main function was to guarantee the supply of cereals, which were stored in the municipal granaries.

The Official Chamber of Commerce of Salamanca, founded in 1886, did not have its own headquarters until 1918, when it inaugurated —after a careful renovation— the building known as «La Casa de la Tierra». Subsequently -between 1887 and 1991- the Chamber of Commerce acquired the buildings located on the north side of the square from the furniture firm González del Rey. Those properties had been built at the beginning of the 18th century to serve as granaries for the House of the Sexmeros. During the 19th century and until 1917, they functioned as a school. That year, González del Rey bought them to set up his furniture store there, also known as Casa de la Tierra. Finally, in 1987, the Chamber of Commerce reacquired them, reincorporating them into the architectural complex to which they had originally belonged.

It belonged to the Counts of Grajal and still preserves from that period the semicircular arch doorway, formed by large voussoirs, as well as the remains of a perforated lintel with flamboyant tracery found during the house's reconstruction work. The entrance hall could be the original, and it is probable that the layout of the courtyard is reminiscent of the primitive one, although the almost total reconstruction of the building after its acquisition by the Chamber of Commerce prevents confirmation. Only the lower part of the façade was preserved in that intervention.

The balconies on the main floor and the sgraffito covering the walls already belong to the 18th century, as do two windows on the ground floor, topped with slate dust covers supported by iron brackets. The coats of arms on the façade, which lacked carving, were re-carved and today display the arms of Castile and León and the City of Salamanca. Above the door, an inscription reads: “This house and the auxiliary buildings belong to the 4 Quarters of the Land of this city, which were bought without any apportionment, being sexmeros... Year 1713.”

When the building was reconstructed, the Chamber requested various pieces from demolished properties that were under municipal custody from the City Council; today these elements are distributed throughout the building. To the right of the entrance hall, a door opens with a beautiful Plateresque lintel, from a house on Calle del Pozo Amarillo, which preserves a coat of arms —now without its heraldic elements— framed by a laurel wreath. Facing this small Plateresque doorway, a coat of arms of the Viscount of Hormaza was installed, also recovered from demolitions carried out at that time.

After passing through the entrance hall, one enters a courtyard whose original layout must have been very similar to the current one. It is a rectangular space with corridors on three of its sides, supported by Renaissance columns, and a closed wall on the fourth side. This organization of courtyards was common in palaces of the time and can still be seen in the courtyard of the Torre de los Anaya. The columns are not original either: two of them feature Plateresque capitals from other vanished constructions. In the north gallery there is a bench whose backrest is a beautiful sandstone frieze decorated with delicate grotesques.

The staircase balustrade comes from the Palace of the Count of Francos, demolished during the opening of Gran Vía. This palace was located at the height of the current number 69, opposite Varillas street. The galleries of its courtyard were moved to the college of the Siervas de san José and in 1977 they were installed as a continuous loggia in San Román square.

Inside the building, rooms and decorative elements from the 1917 renovation are preserved. Among them, two ceramic panels signed by Daniel de Zuloaga, depicting views of the city from the Roman Bridge, are noteworthy; several lamps —one of them reproduces the arches of the Escuelas Menores— and chairs from the Palace of San Boal, donated by the Marquis of Cerralbo.