EL RECODO HOUSE is considered the oldest house in Granada, Nicaragua, and Granada still standing in its original founding site of 1524 by the Spanish conqueror Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (native of Granada, Andalusía, Spain) is the oldest city in the American Continent.

EL RECODO is situated in the limits of the ancient native city of Xalteva and the modern Spanish city of Granada (on Palenque Avenue).  UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), OEA (Organization of the American States), and INC (Nicaraguan Cultural Institute) declared it one of the most valuable historical and architectural properties in Granada.

It maintains its original colonial characteristics and is well known for its volumetric simplicity and façade dominated by four rustic wooden columns.  Its colonial adobe walls of solid mass and earthenware roof tiles serve as background to the nook that make up the Palenque Avenue and it is surrounded by simple houses achieving harmony in its own environment.

The asymmetric distribution of the architectural foundation differs from the common lot of rectangular forms always seen in the Granadine housing; although, inside its distribution of space follows the tradition.  The small portico is adjacent to a sitting room that gives access to the central patio or garden.  This central patio is surrounded by corridors made of wooden columns with colonial stile carvings.  On the east wing of the central patio are two rooms that differ from the original colonial atmosphere.  The house has the traditional roof in the form of a continuous pipe or shaft which covers the small sitting room and extends around the central backyard.

An expansion of the original city was produced in Granada between 1524-1750 with the discovery of the drainage route in 1539 and the importance of the seaborne commerce resulting in part of the colonial growth heading towards Xalteva.  The housing growth continues in the Xalteva area during the period between 1750-1856, despite the invasion of pirates and burning of the city.

CASA EL RECODO was probably built in mid XVIII century as a rural establishment with straw and wooden roofs as well as adobe walls characteristic of the Hispanic establishments of the era as can be observed in the drawings of the book Nicaragua de Océano a Océano (Nicaragua Ocean to Ocean) by E.G. Squier.

Quoted in the book Obras de Don Pío Bolaños (The Works of Sir Pío Bolaños):  “… of the horrendous fire in Granada…very few houses were left standing…such as some belonging to poor people in the Jalteva neighborhood…”, referring to this rural property which survived the fire of 1856 provoked by the North American pirate, William Walker.

The important architectural value of CASA EL RECODO is that its façade, sitting rooms and corridors have not been altered nor modernized and, up until the present XXI Century, has conserved its original colonial style.

In the past XX century, this house belonged to the Burgos Chamorro Granadine family and was bought by the architect Lorenzo Guerrero Mora in 1972.  EL RECODO was confiscated in 1979 and used as cultural center during the Sandinista Revolution of the 80’s.  It was headquarters for the filming of three movies:  Sandino Hoy y Siempre (Sandino Today and Always) - 1981, El Señor Presidente (Mr. President) – 1984,  and Walker (1987); and is presently considered the most painted and photographed house in the city of Granada.

The Guerrero family, legitimate owners of this property, gave permission to use it for housing and display of an antique shop in the 90’s.  EL RECODO was restored in 2005, and is presently run as a valuable historic and tourist resource to the city of Granada by Irene Arévalo Guerrero, niece of the architect Lorenzo Guerrero Mora, who had the vision of acquiring this property more than three decades ago.

February, 2006.