PALACIO DE ORELLANA
10 minutesFrom the exterior, its architecture stands out for its sobriety. It features an open gallery on the upper part and a tower that repeats this same element, a solution reminiscent of other Renaissance palaces such as the Monterrey Palace. However, unlike the latter, the Orellana Palace dispenses with abundant decoration.
In fact, in contrast to the ornamental richness of other Renaissance buildings in the city, the Orellana Palace opts for a more sober and balanced style, with very few decorative elements. This simplicity, characteristic of a more austere classicism, allows its construction to be dated to the late 16th century.
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Based on stylistic comparisons, the intervention of architects such as Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón, Martín Navarro, or Juan de Ribero Rada has been defended, but for the moment there is no documentation to support the authorship of the building.
We are probably looking at the last Renaissance-style palace built in Salamanca. Its structure is reminiscent of the Monterrey palace, though not its decoration, which follows classicist principles, already within the orbit of Mannerist art. It lacks the Plateresque decoration characteristic of buildings constructed in the 16th century in the city. The decoration is limited to two coats of arms located above the door and a third on the tower supported by putti.
The owners of this palace were always linked to the San Adrián parish, where they had their funerary pantheon. The disappearance of the parish, whose tower was attached to the Orellana Palace, led to an expansion of this palace in 1856, with the original architecture of the building being copied in the expanded area.
The palace, privately owned, currently belongs to the Pérez Herrasti family and is not open to the public. Little information is available about its interior. According to a news item published some years ago, a 16th-century bathroom is preserved inside, along with antique furniture and utensils. As a curiosity, it should be noted that General Faupel, Hitler's ambassador to Franco and head of the Condor Legion, had his office in this palace.
The structure of Orellana bears resemblances to Monterrey but, unlike this and other 16th-century Salamancan palaces characterized by their abundant Plateresque decoration, this palace is presented practically devoid of ornamentation.
Its main façade, oriented towards Plaza de Colón, is organized into two floors plus an open gallery that crowns the building. An imposing tower rises to the south. The openings are all lintelled, transforming into balconies on the noble floor with triangular and curved pediments. The viewpoint follows a lintelled design, supported by pillars to which corbels are attached, an architectural solution repeated in the upper part of the tower.
The only decorative licenses allowed by the creator of the work were the coats of arms. The one on the tower displays the Anaya coat of arms supported by putti while the two flanking the main balcony bear the Anaya and Bazán coats of arms.
The palace was extended in 1856, when the arch connecting the palace to the church of San Adrián was demolished. This extension is visible on the north side of the building. From the second, walled-up door, an addition begins where 16th-century architecture was copied. Here the cornice is interrupted, giving the impression that another tower was projected but never built.
A wall with battlements closes the patio along Calle de Jesús, a work completed in 1922. The patio is one of the most unique in Salamanca. It features only two L-shaped galleries; with two floors in the bay parallel to the façade and three on the north side. The lower gallery has semicircular arches in which the usual medallions are replaced by oculi pierced in the spandrels, the only case with this solution in Salamanca. The upper gallery is lintelled with Doric columns and corbels decorated with cherubs.