A STROLL THROUGH THE BELLE ÈPOQUE
You can take a walk through the streets of the urban expansion of Navajas at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. This route will take you back in time and you will discover a series of stately homes that have remained as a testimony to the splendour of Navajas during the Belle Époque. Surprising architecture, with many details on their facades, along with beautiful gardens with large trees that will transport you to the past, in a nostalgic but real stage. For this, we propose a route that follows the main houses and their gardens, popularly known as ‘orchards’. You will be able to find a location map showing the most outstanding houses and when you reach them you will discover their singularities, which are explained on a panel.
This monumental complex is of great architectural and historical value, as these houses served as accommodation and services for the Republican army, which seized them at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.
You are sure to enjoy the experience, and the area also has an added value, its wealth of trees, as there are large species of pine trees of various species (canary, black, cedars, cypresses and lime trees) that give freshness to the walk. Many of these trees form part of the catalogue of arboreal heritage of the Valencian Community.
Huerto de Bonet
PROPERTY LISTED AS FULLY PROTECTED
Construction year: 1915
Style: Modernist
Notable elements: Facades, hydraulic tiled floors, original wooden staircase railing, garden
FORNOS ORCHARD
The house is sober and elegant, consisting of ground floor, main floor and second floor. The roof is hipped, with a flat tile roof and decorated eaves. The façade is simple with discreet decorative elements. The balconies and windows are framed and decorated with floral borders. At the height of the first floor there is a decorative band with a fretwork in blue tones, which wraps it in its entirety. Inside, the original hydraulic tile floors have been preserved, whose tesserae form beautiful floral designs; the interior woodwork is original (lacquered in white), with the railing of the main staircase being particularly noteworthy.
It was built by Fernando Felipe Ramón Rodríguez González, a native of Salamanca, known as Fernando Rodríguez Fornos, because he adopted his father’s surname. He came to Valencia, where he carried out his main activity as a doctor and teacher. He was professor of medical pathology, dean of the Faculty of Medicine and rector of the University on two occasions. For this reason, he was recognised as an adopted son of the city and was honoured with a statue in Blasco Ibáñez Avenue for his teaching and humanistic work.
He was a personal friend and doctor of the Bertrán de Lis family, a determining factor that influenced the construction of their summer home in Navajas. He is considered to be the main promoter of health tourism in this municipality, by recommending to his patients, from his surgery, the goodness of the waters of the Fuente del Baño spring, which had a spa. He was also responsible for channelling the water from the Fuente de la Esperanza to supply the municipality’s public water supply.
During the Civil War, the house was seized and turned into a hospital for soldiers and in 1938 into the offices of the Republican General Staff. The owners, after the war, never returned and sold it in 1946 to the brothers Amadeo and José María Fos. It is currently owned by the descendants of the latter.
PROPERTY LISTED AS FULLY PROTECTED
Construction year: 1906
Style: Modernist
Notable elements: Facades, floral decoration on railings and balconies
CUADRADO ORCHARD
The couple established their summer residence in Navajas, where their children spent their childhood. They also stayed there during the three years of the civil war, thanks to which the house was spared the looting suffered by other neighbours.
The architect was Morales and the builder was the navajero José Aucejo. It has a square floor plan, with a hipped roof and is elevated above the ground, accessed by a staircase, with a porch at the back. The façade is decorated with plant motifs on the grilles and windows and has balustrades on the terraces.
In the Art Nouveau style, some original decorative elements remain inside: an Art Nouveau door, a pink marble fireplace. Until recently, the original furniture by Thonet was preserved, as well as the hydraulic tiled floors with vegetal and geometric decoration, the wallpaper and the decoration of the skirting boards, the 125 W electricity supply and the installation of braided cable with bakelite switches and lamps of the period.
It has a large garden with a grove of pine trees and at the rear there were some beautiful specimens of tree peonies, together with white and blue agapanthus brought from the island of Madeira.
The house has been extensively renovated to restore its splendour and is currently inhabited.
PROPERTY LISTED AS FULLY PROTECTED
Construction year: 1906
Style: Modernist
Notable elements: Glazed Bay window, floral decoration on facades, exterior carpentry, original interiors: Valencian tiled skirting board, leaded glass door, interior carpentry, office and bedrooms with Thonet style furniture.
FERRAZ ORCHARD
The house has a square floor plan, elevated from the ground with access via a staircase, and has a vegetable garden at the back. This and the neighbouring house were connected by a staircase that linked the gardens, overcoming the difference in level. The owners were brothers-in-law and built their houses together, which favoured this connection between the gardens.
In 1930 the façade was redecorated by adding a bay window and the family coats of arms, all inspired by the Monterrey palace in Salamanca.
Inside, the entrance hall features a Valencian tiled plinth and an Alfonso-style furnished living room. The front and back areas are separated by leaded-glass doors. The upper floor is furnished in the fashion of the time with a Thonet style desk and chairs, as well as the bedrooms.
The garden was designed by the owner and contains an image of the Immaculate Conception, originally by the Valencian sculptor Dolz, although it was destroyed during the war, it was replaced at the end of the conflict. The large cypress tree was planted by the owner’s son in 1922. During the war, the house was seized and looted, and was used to house children from the Inclusa in Madrid.
LISTED PROPERTY WITH PARTIAL PROTECTION
Construction year: 1893
Style: Modernist
Notable elements: Decorated façades, garden with century-old trees.
CARLES ORCHARD
With a quadrangular floor plan, it rises above the ground and is accessed by a central staircase. It originally had a central corridor and rooms on both sides. It has two floors and a ground floor with a large terrace surrounding it. The façade has windows decorated with lintels and garlands, balconies with double arches crowned with a triangular tympanum. The roof is topped with cup-shaped ceramic pieces. The interior has been completely transformed into a hotel.
It was built for the marriage of Juan Carles and Conchita Contell and is a twin in style and contemporary to that of his brother José Carles. After the end of the war, it was acquired by the Terrada family, the last owners, who rented it in the 1940s to a private recreational society called ‘Tenis Club’, founded in the post-war period and directed by Pepín Carles. Its members were holidaymakers from the Valencian bourgeoisie and used to meet to play board games and tennis tournaments, which is why it was known as the Casino.
At the end of the 1960s, the Navajas Town Council bought the property from this family and, by means of a loan financed by voluntary contributions from the town’s residents, it became municipal property. Since then, it has been converted into a public recreational area, with sports facilities next to the swimming pools, known as -Parque Municipal- and is currently a hotel.
During the Civil War, the house housed the services of the `Inclusa´ (Provincial Institute of Childcare in Madrid) from the end of 1936 until its evacuation at the beginning of 1938.
PROPERTY LISTED AS FULLY PROTECTED
Construction year: 1915
Style: Modernist
Notable elements: Modernist façade, original exterior carpentry, interior furniture, ceramic skirting boards. Garden with valuable trees, including a 24.30 metre high cypress tree with a trunk perimeter of 3.95 metres and a 24 metre high Cedar of Lebanon with a trunk perimeter of 4.11 metres.
Villa Pilar
The building dates from the beginning of the 20th century, has a quadrangular floor plan and is raised above the garden by three steps. It is a typical Valencian construction, well oriented and distributed in a way that favours ventilation. It has a wide central corridor with rooms on both sides and two opposite doors that open onto the garden. It is distributed over two floors: on the ground floor there is the living-dining room, the kitchen and spacious bedrooms and bathrooms. On the first floor there is access to a turret where there is a service room, a bathroom and a laundry room. It conserves the original finishes: wooden carpentry and ceramic tile skirting boards. The floor is made of hydraulic tiles with a variety of designs. The decoration of the façade is austere, with a porch opening onto the front garden, which is very leafy with large trees, including a magnificent specimen of Cedar of Lebanon. The rear part has vegetable gardens for cultivation.
It was built by Mrs. Matilde Martínez de Reig, nicknamed ‘la Cotorra’ because of her loquacity. She was an influential woman in royal circles, due to her friendship with a close friend of King Alfonso XIII, she accelerated the signing of the extension of the municipal district of Navajas in 1925, which was granted by the king in San Sebastián. She was very generous with the municipality, contributing financially to the construction of the public schools inaugurated in 1919.
The house was later acquired by Mr. Ricardo Tarazona, who in turn sold it to Mr. Bartolomé Sabater Silvestre and Mrs. Rosario Agustín Herrero. During this period the band Primitiva de Liria visited Navajas and a big party was held, as D. Bartolomé was a patron member of the band. The Zarzuela Domínguez family are the last owners, who bought it in 1998 and have now transformed it into rural accommodation, under the name of Villa Pilar.
LISTED PROPERTY WITH PARTIAL PROTECTION
Construction year: 1895
Style: Modernist
Notable elements: Façade with wooden carpentry, roof with interior wooden structure, hipped roof, interior wooden carpentry, access staircase.
GERMANS' ORCHARD
With a square floor plan, sober and elegant, it is accessed by a staircase that bridges the difference in height with respect to the street. It consists of a ground floor and an upper floor; the rooms are arranged on both sides of a central corridor. It conserves the wooden structure made to cover the hipped roof.
It was built at the end of the 19th century, although the exact name of the first owners is unknown. Between 1914 and 1945 it was owned by a German military man, Mr. Herburger, who had two daughters, Elisabeth and Margaret, the latter of whom lived in Valencia until recently. Due to the origin of this family, this house is popularly known as the Germans’ Orchard.
Later the property was sold to some friends of Mr. Santiago García, neighbours to the rear, with whose orchard it was connected through a gate. They occupied it until the end of the 1960s. Dolores Liñán, its owner, was widowed and childless, so she donated it on her death to the Real Colegio del Corpus Christi de Valencia, -Colegio del Patriarca-. It was rented to this entity as a Social Club by the flourishing Valencian colony in those years, where they held social gatherings and musical evenings during the summers.
The current owners bought it in 2000 and renovated it in 2002. The renovation was done in depth but without structural changes, respecting the façade and the interior to maintain the original style of the house.
LISTED PROPERTY WITH PARTIAL PROTECTION
Construction year: 1900 / 1923
Style: Modernist
Notable elements: Façade with decorated eaves, exterior carpentry. Interior rooms with coffered plaster ceilings and decorative paintings, tesserae flooring with geometric decoration. In the garden, paving of paths with pebbles and benches and planters with ceramic tiling, trees.
CORELL ORCHARD
The original construction was simpler than the present one, with a square floor plan, similar to the neighbouring buildings, all dating from the beginning of the 20th century. The house consists of two floors with a multi-pitched roof and topped by a turret. The façade is notable for its roof with eaves decorated with painted soffits. As it is elevated above the ground, it is accessed by an external staircase. It has a private oratory next to the interior staircase, where masses were held. It has a basement that was used as a service area. The property once housed a small adjoining theatre, which was used by the summer colony for theatrical performances directed by Mr. Pepín Carles.
The first owners were Don Julián Ayora and his wife Petra, who built the first house, similar in style to their neighbours, the Ordura and Mezquita houses, all of which were built at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1923 they extended the house, enlarging the dining room and the tower, adding more volume to the original construction, giving it more space and comfort; they also acquired more land, extending the plot to the south.
During the Civil War, it was seized from its owners and was used as accommodation for the Republican army’s General Staff. The famous meeting between Negrín -president of the Republican government- and the high command, including the generals Miaja, Rojo, Matallana, Menéndez and Sarabia, took place in this residence. It was here that the unification of forces was forged to face the enemy offensive in the battle of Levante, on 5 June 1938.
The owners’ daughter Doña Elena Ayora, married to Francisco Corell after the war, recovered and preserved it, spending her summers here until it was sold to its current owner. Since then, the building and gardens have been improved, annexing the adjoining house which belonged to the Mezquita family, later Fernández Casanova.
PROPERTY LISTED AS FULLY PROTECTED
Construction year: 1927
Style: Eclecticism
Notable elements: Façades, mouldings and eaves, interior hydraulic tiled flooring, hydraulic tiled ceramic cladding and plaster coffered ceiling. Tree-lined Garden.
LLOPIS ORCHARD
It is a massive building, made entirely of concrete, with two storeys and several hipped roofs. It has an airy tower with arches and small columns. The façade has a detailed ornamentation that makes it very eye-catching: the eaves, corner finials and window decorations are made with plaster moulds and are all different from each other.
Inside, the hallway stands out, which has an Art Deco-style staircase with polished cement steps and mother-of-pearl fragments, giving it a shiny appearance. The tiles that cover the walls are from Manises, with patterns typical of the period. The original interior finishes have been preserved: woodwork, mixed flooring, made ‘in situ’ together with hydraulic tiles and the fireplace in the living room. The coffered ceilings are made of cement, with plaster moulds applied and later painted, and the designs have an orientalist appearance. The garden has a small wooded area at the front with large trees that shade the grounds.
There was a first house on this site owned by Joaquín Palomar Ariño. It was square and simple, with the same characteristics as the Ordura’s house, which is now the new Town Hall.
It was bought in 1925 by the married couple Juan LLópis Escriva and María Mezquita Monforte, anecdotally, while they were spending their summer holidays in the house of their relatives, the Mezquita family, located two houses above. They tore it down and built the beautiful mansion that is there today. The construction was inspired by a house on the French Côte d’Azur, which the newlyweds fell in love with during their honeymoon. After his death it was inherited by his son, Mr. Juan Luis Llópis Mezquita, husband of Mrs. Vicenta García Gil.
During the war, between 36 and 37, the house was requisitioned, serving as an official residence for the family of the mayor of Madrid, Rafael Henche de la Plata, who had also been president of the Diputación de Madrid in those same years. During the Battle of Levante, the house was militarised and used as a radio station.
LISTED PROPERTY WITH PARTIAL PROTECTION
Construction year: 1893
Style: Modernist
Notable elements: Façade and exterior carpentry, original hydraulic tiled floors, interior woodwork, garden with beautiful centenary trees, including a 32.5-metre-high Canary Island pine with a trunk perimeter of 3.69 metres, and stone pines.
BONET ORCHARD
The house has three floors and is elevated from the garden which is accessed by a staircase, surrounded by a terrace with balustrade. The lower part has an entrance hall, living room and dining room, while the upper part has the bedrooms and bathrooms. Its furniture and furnishings were custom-made following the concept of ‘total art’ typical of Modernism.
The plot was originally larger, reaching as far as the little snack house called ‘El Pacico’, but with the construction of the railway in 1898, the property was divided in two.
José Carles and Mrs. Luz Peiró were the ones who bought the land and built the house at the end of the 19th century. It was one of the most important houses of the time, where the crème de la crème of bourgeois holidaymakers gathered. Great parties, theatre, tennis competitions, musical evenings and shawl competitions were held here. The famous Italian tenor Lauri Volpi, married to a Valencian woman, performed in this house and in the house opposite owned by D. Santiago García.
The garden was one of the most beautiful at the time, and even had night lighting in the fountains. It consists of two parts, one that faces the house and another elevated part that borders the railway line, which is accessed by a flight of steps. It was a romantic garden with a fountain, flowerbeds, rose garden and grove of trees.
During the Civil War of 1936, the residence was requisitioned and became a shelter for the girls of the `Madrid Inclusa´ and then in 1938 it was the headquarters of the Republican Army’s General Staff. It was badly damaged during the conflict, with almost all the furniture and belongings inside disappearing.
In 1941, Mr. Federico Bonet and Mrs. Rafaela Prieto bought it and restored it to its former splendour. They restored all the furniture in keeping with the style of the period. The house was inherited by the couple’s children, D. Bernardo and Dª María Luisa, and is currently owned by their heirs.
PROPERTY LISTED AS FULLY PROTECTED
Construction year: 1910
Style: Modernism
Notable elements: French-style façade, swimming pool, fountain and garden with centenary trees.
DON SANTIAGO'S ORCHARD
It has a quadrangular ground plan, arranged on two floors with a turret and a basement for service. The façade is decorated in the French style, with windows decorated with garlands carved into the concrete, columns and balustrades. The design follows the canons of the “total art” of organicist modernism of the early 20th century. All the architectural and decorative elements and furnishings are uniform and carefully detailed. The interior decoration, the staircases and even the garden gate were all designed as a unit. The floors are tessellated with geometric patterns. In front of the main façade is a romantic-looking fountain with a fountain spout. It had an artificial tosca grotto with a set of fountains with night-time lighting. In the less visible area, there is a garage and the housekeepers’ house, who are in charge of maintenance, as well as a vegetable garden.
Santiago García Bertrán de Lis y Espinosa de los Monteros -Lord of Sonseca- gave it to his wife Rufina Janini y Mosquera de Puga, who at first thought it was ostentatious. It was a meeting place for social gatherings, receptions, parties and evening parties. It paid homage to the famous Italian tenor of the time, Lauri Volpi, who was married to a Valencian woman. Both his father and the owner of the house collaborated financially in the construction of the public schools in Navajas in 1919.
During the civil war, the house was seized and used as an office of the Republican army’s General Staff. This led to the destruction of the interior decoration and belongings. At the end of the war, the owner did not want to return to the house and only came back on a few occasions. After the death of D. Santiago, the brothers sold it to D. Eugenio Martí Sanchís, a businessman from Alcira and Provincial Delegate of Physical Education and Sports in Valencia. He later sold it to the Vento-Conde family, who bought and annexed the adjoining house or orchard of ‘Las monjas’, but demolished it to enlarge the garden area.