MONUMENTS

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Goñi Portal Farmhouse

An unusual rural building in the heart of the urban centre, behind the parish church of Santa María Magdalena. As its name suggests, it stood beside St. James' Arch or gate (portal) in the old city walls, from whence the road to the neighbouring town of Gorliz ran out through Calle Portaleta (whose name contains another reference to the gate).

Goñi Portal deteriorated progressively during the twentieth century and by the 1980s it had become uninhabitable. The town council was forced to take urgent action to preserve this unique example of rural architecture in the historical centre of the town, listed as a monument in the General Inventory of Basque Cultural Heritage and as an area of archaeological interest, and also rated as being of relevant architectural interest in the Special Rehabilitation Plan for the Historical Centre. For historical, architectural and planning reasons, the building is therefore well suited for cultural uses.

There is documentary evidence that it was built by the second half of the seventeenth century. Further evidence of the age of the building can be seen in some of the architectural features, such as the straight feet of the structure, which support the lintelled beam of the arch. The early farm building, erected outside the town walls beside the stone marking the boundary with the neighbouring town of Gorliz, was quadrangular in plan. The ground floor housed the stable and a central staircase, with the main dwelling on the first floor and a loft running under the two-slope roof. In the eighteenth century, the building was extended with rows of rooms being added to the side to provide two homes with independent access by way of an outdoor stairs. This extension was part of a general expansion to meet renewed demand for housing as a result of an increase in the shipping trade and a consequent rise in the population. At that point the house ceased to be so clearly rural in character and was integrated within the urban framework.