Casa dos Duques de Medina de las Torres

Casa dos Duques de Medina de las Torres is a 19th-century palatial mansion in Sobradelo, a hamlet within the municipality of Vilagarcía de Arousa, in the province of Pontevedra, Galicia. Standing right on the old boundary between the parishes of Vilaxoán and Sobradelo, next to the seafront port promenade, the house has sat empty for decades — yet its scale and detail still stop passers-by in their tracks, drawing in fans of Galician architecture and history.

What is this place?

The palace was built between 1881 and 1882 as the residence of María Eulalia Osorio de Moscoso y Carvajal, Duchess of Medina de las Torres. Designed in an eclectic style with clear Renaissance influences, it forms an almost square block roughly 23 metres to a side, rising four storeys high. The walls, built from dressed ashlar stone, are 80 centimetres thick, and the facade holds an astonishing 144 windows — the source of its local nickname, "the house of a thousand windows." Inside, a central wooden staircase 170 centimetres wide climbs beneath an overhead skylight, matched by a similarly lit service staircase for the household staff. Every floor has its own fireplace and kitchen, and a chapel was built between the second and third floors, with a coffered wooden ceiling and an ornately carved altarpiece under its own heritage protection. Kings Alfonso XII and, later, Alfonso XIII both stayed here; there was even talk of a royal summer residence on the site, though the plan never went ahead. As the sea once reached almost to the property line, the house originally had its own private jetty.

How do you get there?

Sobradelo sits within Vilagarcía de Arousa, a town well connected by road and rail to Santiago de Compostela and Pontevedra. The easiest approach is by car or by train to Vilagarcía de Arousa station, followed by a short walk or taxi ride toward the port's seafront promenade, where the mansion stands. The building is private property and has been abandoned since 2003 — entering the grounds is both illegal and unsafe given the structure's ongoing decay, so the best approach is to view the facade and surrounding grounds from the public road outside.

What will you see?

From the outside, the standout feature is the wrought-iron gallery and the stained-glass window with lead-divided panes above the main entrance, alongside the striking, regular rhythm of windows across all four storeys. The mansion sits on a plot of roughly 37,000 square metres of former gardens, still home to sequoias, American oaks, and magnolias — remnants of a once carefully tended park, now heavily overgrown. The exterior shows clear signs of decay, though the interior — off-limits to visitors — reportedly still holds well-preserved original wooden flooring. Since 2016 the building has been listed on Spain's Lista Roja, a register of heritage sites at risk, and restoring it is estimated to cost 3 to 4 million euros.

When should you visit?

Since the main draw here is the exterior view rather than an indoor visit, the site can be seen year-round, though spring and early summer make for the most pleasant walk along the promenade and the best look at the garden's lush greenery. It's easy to combine a stop here with a visit to Vilagarcía de Arousa itself and the nearby beaches of the Rías Baixas coast.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you go inside the mansion? No — the building is private property that has stood abandoned since 2003, and entering the grounds is prohibited and unsafe due to the poor state of the structure.

Who owns the property today? It no longer belongs to the current Dukes of Terranova; it is now held by another branch of the family, the Cierva García Bermúdez, and part of the grounds has been ceded to the town council of Vilagarcía de Arousa.

Why is it called "the house of a thousand windows"? Because of its sheer number of windows — 144 in total — an unusually dense facade for a residence of this size.

Is the mansion a protected heritage site? The building itself carries no formal heritage-protection status, but it has appeared on Spain's Lista Roja of endangered heritage since 2016, and the chapel's carved altarpiece is separately protected.