Palacio de Ugarte-Barrientos
It was built in the 18th century on land reclaimed from the sea, after tearing down the medieval walls and towers
The Ugarte-Barrientos Palace was constructed in the 18th century. At that time, the sea reached what is now known as Puerta del Mar. Moreover, the Alameda Principal was designed in that century on the sandy spaces left by the withdrawal of the wall, towers and gate, known as Puerta del Mar. This area quickly gained urban interest, and buildings started to appear. Two blocks of houses were built, forming what is now Calle Panaderos, and the alignment of the pavements on Calle Atarazanas was set, where the artistic Málaga Central Market is located.
Around 1776, the Ugarte-Barrientos family commissioned the construction of a palatial house with three facades. The main one faces Puerta del Mar, while the others overlook Alameda and Calle Panaderos. The Ugarte-Barrientos Palace stands out for its monumental stone entrance framed by two half-columns with fluted shafts and Doric capitals, supporting a frieze with the Ugarte-Barrientos family's coat of arms in the centre of the lintel and an overhanging cornice that supports an elegant balcony. For many years, it served as the family residence. It is where Doña Josefa María de Ugarte-Barrientos Méndez de Sotomayor y Casaus, a writer and poetess from Málaga, spent her childhood. Her work "El Cautivo" marked the inauguration of the Cervantes Theatre.
Subsequent Phases of the Ugarte-Barrientos Palace
In a later period, the building belonged to D. Antonio Álvarez Net, a well-known businessman of the time, a great promoter of urban expansion in the city and president of the Friends of Country Economic Society, who bought it directly from the Ugarte-Barrientos family in 1865. Once the remodelling was completed between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the building became the Gran Hotel Du Roma (Hotel Roma), which remained open until 1907. Like many buildings in the Historic Centre, it suffered the effects of the floods that occurred in Málaga on 24 September that year due to the overflowing of the Guadalmedina River.
From 1907 onwards, it ceased to be the Hotel Roma and became the Hotel Regina. Among the illustrious guests who stayed at the Hotel Regina was Gerald Brenan, a young British writer at the time. In the 1940s, the building housed the headquarters of the General Commissariat for Supplies and Transport, and subsequently, in 1986, it became the Edipsa building.
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