Casa de los Dragones facts for kids
Quick facts for kids House of the Dragons |
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Casa de los Dragones
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Casa de los Dragones
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | Eclectic |
| Location | Ceuta |
| Coordinates | 35°53′15″N 5°18′32″W / 35.88750°N 5.30889°W |
| Construction started | 1897 |
| Completed | 1905 |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 3 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | José María Manuel Cortina Pérez |
The House of the Dragons (in Spanish, Casa de los Dragones) is a famous building in Ceuta, a Spanish city on the coast of North Africa. It's known for its amazing and unique design, which is called eclectic architecture. This means it mixes different styles. You can find this special house on a corner of Kings Square.
History of the Dragon House
The House of the Dragons was built a long time ago, starting in 1900. It was finished in 1905. A man named Francisco Cerni González, who was the mayor of Ceuta, asked for it to be built. He worked with his brother Ricardo on this project.
The person who designed this cool house was an architect from Valencia named José M. Cortina Pérez. He was known for his eclectic style. This means he liked to combine different architectural ideas.
He used artificial stone for the bottom part of the building. For the roof, he added something really special: big bronze dragons! This is why the house got its name. The house is located at the corner of Paseo de Camoens and Millán Astray Street, right in Kings Square.
The building was originally meant to be named after the Cerni González brothers. But everyone started calling it the House of the Dragons instead. This is similar to another building designed by the same architect in Valencia. That house, built in 1901, is also called the Building of the Dragons because it has dragons, too, though they are a bit more hidden.
After the Cerni González family, the house had new owners. For a while after 1936, a political group called the Falange party used the building for their offices. In 1946, the house was sold again. The outside of the house was fixed up in 1973 and again in 1996 by Salomón Benhamú Roffé.
The Dragons Return
The first dragons on the roof were taken down in 1925 and sadly got lost. But don't worry, new dragons are now there! Four new dragons were created by a local artist named Antonio Romero Vallejo.
These new dragons are made mostly from resin and fiberglass. They are painted to look like bronze, but they are much lighter. Each new dragon weighs less than 200 kilograms (about 440 pounds). They were put back on the house in November 2006.
Antonio Romero Vallejo was born in 1958. He is also known for another artwork in Ceuta. It's a bronze statue called Tribute to the Artillery. You can see it outside the city walls on Avenida Martinez Catena.
See also
In Spanish: Casa de los Dragones (Ceuta) para niños
