This beautiful property is already included in the city maps from 1796 and registered with the name of Horta de San Martín (S. Martin´s orchard). This fact shows that it belonged to the Monasterio de San Martín Pinario (San Martin Pinario´s Monastery) beside, which is still operating nowadays. The property is a recint surrounded all along by a strong stone wall, which divides drastically the inside and the outside, creating its own world. This colonial style building which is the seat for the Casa de Europa was erected as the place of residence for a bourgeoise family from Santiago de Compostela in 1903.
In 1999 the architect César Portela began restauration works. This project combined genuine quality of the original materials with avangard design, warm colours and austerity in decoration. The result was the definitive exaltation of the aristocratic apperance and the splendor of the past times of this house. The new values were succesfully introduced and well adapted to the inherited, so as to endow the building with new uses and respond to new necessities. Since its surroundings are really beautiful, we can say that its wide and varied garden of more than 20 square metres does full justice to its nickname: Vista Alegre (beautiful sight).
