Mansions and private mansions to visit Santo Domingo

This two-storey building was built in 1554 by the Duke of Rivera, whose shield surmounts the door of the main entrance. The house owes its name to a strange character who lived in it and permanently masked his face. The legends say that he was the twin brother of a Spanish king or a disfigured leper. It is also said that prisoners from Mexico were locked up here and never showed their faces so as not to be recognized. Today the building is used for cultural events and art exhibitions.

It is one of the oldest buildings in the city, built by order of Nicolás de Ovando (who ordered a total of fifteen). The Casa de los Jesuitas is a simple building with a colonial appearance typical of the period and a Moorish interior. The University of El Gorjo was transferred there under the supervision of the Jesuits until their expulsion in 1767. It was then inhabited by a few local families before becoming the property of the State. The adjoining church, now a national pantheon for some of the heroes of the resistance, was built from 1714 and finished in 1755.

The three houses that make up the palace were built by Nicolás de Ovando, founder of the city, during the first decade of the sixteenth century, when the governor general lived in Santo Domingo. The long and low façade is faithful to the austere gothic style of the time. The houses were attached to the Davila house at number 57 of the street when they were restored, and transformed into a tourist hotel in 1974 by the Dominican government.