Old House of Arts and Crafts

The House of Arts and Crafts is a historicist-style palace-house located on Calle Albollón, where wealthy families from Martos, Jaén lived in the second half of the 19th century. This house was built in 1896 as a family residence, although over time it has had various uses that have contributed to its conservation and maintenance.
It is a house that catches the eye because of its rounded chamfered corner with a bay window. Its façade has a large opening over the wall and large balconies and windows that repeat in an orderly fashion. The main façade consists of three hierarchical floors: the ground floor contains the entrance, offices and reception rooms, the first floor contains the private rooms and the second floor contains the secondary rooms. The entrance hall is decorated with paintings and reliefs on the ceiling and is separated from the interior of the house by an iron door decorated with grotesques, floral and geometric motifs. In the centre of the house, we find an inner courtyard, a light well, with four columns with capitals that support segmental arches, which in turn support an upper gallery.
Since 2023, the building has housed a municipal museum collection of painting and sculpture, including a selection from the Ciudad de Martos Painting Competition, which was founded in 1973, and the Peña de Martos Biennial Sculpture Competition, which was founded in 1988. It can be reached from the staircase that leads to the first floor, where the "Ciudad de Martos" Museum Collection is located. The Martos City International Painting Competition began as a festival competition and expanded to different areas: local, provincial, regional, national, and it finally became international.