THREE CENTURIES OF HISTORY
On the main street of the colonial city of Quito, known as the street of the 7 crosses since the 16th century, today called García Moreno, there is a house with at least three centuries of history. It is known as the "panzona" house, due to its low sides without sidewalks, as the house was built on a small hill that existed before the current layout of the street. In the 18th century, the northern limits of the colonial city were in the Santa Bárbara Parish, whose 16th-century church contains the first of the seven crosses and is close to this colonial house.
The house was fully restored to accommodate a private residence in 2010-2011 by Architect Luis López and his team, professionals renowned for the restoration of the old San Juan de Dios Hospital, now the Museum of the City of Quito, the Casa del Alabado Museum, and several civil buildings in the Historic Center of Quito.
During the restoration, the focus was on recovering the original spaces of the colonial house, its stone galleries, simple unadorned facade, its morphology composed of two wings connected by stone stairs, and the original openings of doors and windows of the colonial house. The patio articulates the circulation within the house, prioritizing light and interior ventilation. The materials of the house are typical of the Andes, adobe, stone, and wood, accompanied by large sliding glass windows in the galleries, and contemporary details of micro cement in fireplaces and lower floors.
The particular shape of the house is due to its historical proximity to a ravine with springs from the Pichincha volcano, which continued into adjacent lands used for cultivation and animal care. house is a few blocks from the Plaza de la Independencia and the Basílica del Voto Nacional, in the heart of the Historic Center of Quito.
The house bears witness to the transformations of the city from the colonial period to the present, its representation appearing as a plot or house with lands in old city maps such as those by Dionisio Alcedo Herrera in 1734, the French academics in 1741, and later by Juan Pío Montúfar in 1805
