Can Espanya-Serra

Can Espanya-Serra is a Neogothic mansion in Palma, built around 1900 with an unusually detailed façade. Twenty-eight sculpted heads look over the street. They portray Faith, Mercury, Medusa, bishops, kings, and other mythological or symbolic figures. Their combination turns the upper façade into a gallery of religious, legendary, and historical characters.

An earlier house stood here in 1576, belonging to Pere de Sala before the Guaita family acquired it. The Serra family lived here during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Bonaventura Serra i Ferragut, a scholar, researcher, and writer, belonged to that family and lived from 1728 to 1784. In 1892, the Espanya family inherited the property and later rebuilt it as Hostal Isabel II.

A later renovation adapted the building for multi-family residential use while retaining its historic features. Inside, lowered arches shape a Neogothic courtyard around a prominent staircase. Its railing contains sixteen panels with individual mouldings and reliefs. At the Portella corner, an angel supports a sundial beside a scroll bearing “Ultima multis.”