Guesthouses and Inns in Spanish Southeast. The Decline of an Architectural Typology Linked to the Roads

Abstract

Guesthouses, inns and hostels linked to travels and roads, arose as a result of the need to stop during long and difficult journeys. Throughout the centuries, the existence of the rest points that marked the roads which crossed Spain, allowed the development of such routes. Its inclusion in historical cartography and in geographical dictionaries as well as the existence of specific legislation reflects their importance for hundreds of years. They were distinguished as an architectural typology of their own, up to the point of been the subject of a project and the examination proposal for the access to the titles of architect or master of works in the different Academies of Fine Arts that arose in Spain for the regulation of the exercise of architecture. The roads constituted the elements that subordinated the formal qualities of this type of architecture, qualities that depended on its hospitality function and on the basis of which the elements that make up these establishments emerged, becoming a characteristic image that distinguishes it from the rest. It is constructions of simple forms with bearing walls that organize the space in one or two bays, always using the materials of the immediate environment in its construction. It highlights the courtyard, a large open space to which all the dependencies of the hostel ended in, and the main block of the set, where the kitchen is located, an essential element in guesthouses and inns since it was the place where, in addition to cooking, guests could warm up and gather together as well as the bedrooms, of which the wealthy travellers made use of, in spite of being very modest. However, despite the fact that they are pieces that are part of the history of communications, and in spite of their value for being part of the Cultural Heritage and public works, they are in danger of disappearing completely without being properly documented or inventoried. The lack of sensitivity and recognition as a patrimonial asset by society, together with the lack of cataloguing and guardianship as well as a more direct intervention by public institutions in the preservation of this architectural typology, has led to the transformation of some, with the consequent loss of most of its architectural and patrimonial values, or the abandonment and later disappearance of many of them. We are faced with buildings of great wealth and heritage value. Hence, their intervention must be promoted, provided that we act with sensitivity, respecting their functional and compositional aspects to the maximum, finding compatible uses for them and using them appropriately, so that they do not lose their trait as a place to stop.