L'Hort de Colón
The captains of the merchant navy of Benidorm built their habitual residence around two axes, Alameda Street and Paseo de la Carretera (former Marquis of Comillas, where the City Council paid tribute to the second marquis, owner of the shipping company “La Trasatlántica”, where a large number of Benidorm residents appeared and which adopted various protection measures for its employees, such as the monthly payment of a retirement pay).
Vicente Zaragoza Ortuño (1838-1899), famous shipowner and captain of various ocean liners, had his home on Paseo de la Carretera, very close to the building that would later be donated to the Town Hall. For that reason, and at a given moment, he decided to acquire an orchard in 1885 that was located behind his house.
Indeed, on June 9, 1885, Mr. Vicente Zaragoza Ortuño bought a farm from Mrs. Josefa Llorca Llaudes, with 49 areas and 86 centiares of surface (4,986 square meters). This garden was walled, planted with olive trees and with a pond for irrigation.
On April 14, 1899, before the notary, Mr. José María Pujalte, Vicente Zaragoza Ortuño made an inventory and divided his assets between his three children, Josefa, Vicente and Pedro Zaragoza Soria.
Vicente is bequeathed a two-story house and residence on Calvario Street. It is indicated that this house was built from a new floor by Vicente Zaragoza Ortuño, on the orchard that he acquired in 1885.
Apart from the house, it receives a third part of the primitive orchard (16 areas and 62 centiares, that is, 1662 square meters) that had a pond (with the right to 4 days of water), a water wheel, an oil mill department with oil presses. iron, chicken coop and stables. It was planted with fruit trees and vines.
At the time of Vicente Zaragoza Ortuño's death, the garden should be divided between the three brothers (as agreed in the notarial document) and separated with walls of stones and reeds. The new owners would receive it in usufruct and must bequeath it to their children under the same conditions.
When Vicente Zaragoza Ortuño died in 1899, the division of the Huerto became effective and its distribution, as agreed, between his three children.
In this way, Vicente Zaragoza Soria, heir to the house and a third of the Orchard, bequeaths his property to his daughter Catalina Zaragoza Llinares. She married Maximiano Llorca Fuster, captain of the merchant navy, and the result of this marriage was three children, María de la Concepción, Vicente and María del Pilar Llorca Zaragoza.
These last two, in a document dated April 20, 1988, agree with the Councilor-Delegate of Urban Planning, Mr. Jesús Fuentes Granados, to transfer the house and part of the garden in exchange for authorization to build on the rest of the old vegetable patch. Agreement that is ratified before the notary José-Luis Ruiz Mesa, on November 8 of the same year.
The documents corresponding to the transfer also describe:
- Following the part used for the extension of the house, there is a one-story construction of 18.50 meters, occupied by four rooms, a garage and an attic.
The Garden had the following:
- water wheel and pond for irrigation
- the land was occupied by the garden, composed of:
trees: pines, palm trees, carob trees, cypresses, pomegranate trees and lemon trees
Plants: jasmines, boungavillas, geraniums, etc.
- All the grown trees and plants, “it is estimated that they should have been planted when the house was built.”
If you wish to visit l'Hort de Colon, make an appointment at the Department of Historical Heritage.
This house museum is an old home of the descendants of Vicente Zaragoza Ortuño, a shipowner of this town and owner of the company La Trasatlántica. It is a house from the beginning of the century, with two floors, a porch and an orchard, now a garden. The house can be visited with a guide, the lower floor is accessed by a ramp, and the upper floor only by stairs.
