The Miramar complex, made up of a palace with its park, and various buildings, gardens and outbuildings, covers, in total, an area of 34,136 square meters, limited, to the north, by the Ondarreta gardens, the rocks and the sea. , to the south, with the Paseo de Pío Baroja, which was previously an integral part of the complex; to the east, with the Paseo de Miraconcha and, to the west, with the Paseo de los Miqueletes.
Its location in the center of the bay has made it a point of aesthetic and urban perspectives of extraordinary value, which must be added to the historical values of its location.
Designed in 1888 by the English architect Selden Wornum, with the name "Real Casa de Campo de Miramar in San Sebastián" - which corresponds more to its purpose than the name of a palace -, it was built by Don Benito Olasagasti, under the direction by the municipal architect José Goicoa, with a budget of 3,000,000 pesetas. Its type corresponds to an English Queen Anne "cottage", the name with which the English designate a rural construction - generally with two floors intended for a single family -, and whose construction characteristics, purely Nordic, must be of a sober elegance combined with an evident sense of comfort in accordance with the country atmosphere that should surround it. Its English flat tile roof – origin that also corresponds to lantern work and locksmithing – and the abundant use of brick in construction, show us this. Although, without forgetting, on the other hand, the revivalist and electrician taste, typical of the time in which it was built, which is observed in the Gothic style molding of the ashlars of its doors and windows.
The layout of the park and the gardens were, for their part, designed, in agreement with the architect-director, by Pierre Ducasse, who died without seeing them built.
The works were completed in 1893, and all of its buildings add up to a total of 8,000 square meters built. The palace, with a basement and three floors, has about 5,600 square meters, with more than nine rooms, with a surface area of more than 50 square meters. In 1920, a new building called the Prince's Pavilion would be added.
Translated by Google •
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