Can Fontiroig

Description

The building façade features three floors with a lintelled main doorway. The first floor has four balconies. Above the main doorway, between the first and second balcony, a mullioned window has been recovered, although only from the outside. Further up, above the impost, we can see the porch with six different apertures: the two bigger windows are slightly arched beneath the impost; two apertures are semicircular and the remaining two are squared. The entrance is covered by a beamed ceiling and the second intercolumniation takes the form of two basket-handle arches on the sides and a semicircular arch in the centre. The latter leads to the staircase, which in turn takes us up to the piano nobile. A small, open courtyard is still preserved on the left behind a semicircular archway. Inside, there is a noteworthy chapel with a small baroque altarpiece.

History:

The house was linked to the Berard family in one way or another from the 16th century until1807. The name Francesc Boix de Berard y Cotoner was mentioned for the first time with reference to the house in the year 1685, when it was valued at 1,200 Mallorcan pounds (Murray-Pascual, 69). This is where Jeroni de Berard i Solà, a famous figure and author of Viaje a las Villas de Mallorca (Trip to Mallorca's Villages) lived in the year 1798. In 1807, his heirs inhabited the house of Mateu Fontirroig and the nephew of El Puig. Prior to this, the Fontirroig family had lived in a house located on Calle Zanglada. Later on, due to a marriage between the heir of the two houses, Francisca Fontirroig and Salvador Morell y Esteva, the house would pass to the Morell family, Señores de Pastoritx. According to the amended electoral roll for 1864, the house was situated on plot number 48 and was owned by Mr. Pedro Morell y Font y Roig "landowner", with an estate worth 28,280 Mallorcan pounds (Municipal Archive of Palma, 1060).

Reference:

- Murray-Pascual, 1999, p. 68-70 -GEM, V, 376

- Patis de Palma (Inner Courtyards of Palma): Ajuntament de Palma-Baltar & Associats, 2002, p. 61.

- Catàleg Ajuntament de Palma (Catalogue of the Town Hall of Palma), 2005.