Location: Street San Antón, 2.

No one knows who is the author of this construction executed between 1767 and 1773. Promoted by a married couple for renting lodgings during the King’s Visits and set up as a usual residence of the promoters.

In 1777 it was rented to the Milanese Company that ended up buying it all. These Italians had hotel businesses in Madrid where the intellectuals of the moment met (Moratín, Ayala, etc.). At the end of the 19th century its function is changed to residential use, changing the interior and building another floor.

It is, architectonically, a building of rectangular floor plan, with four façades and four stories, one and a half of which were built at the end of the 19th century or beginnings of the 20th century.

With a compact floor plan, without interior patios and two or three corridors depending on the depth of the building, plastered walls, with corners and the openings surrounded by granite rock and the main entrance located in the centre of the longer façade. The doorway stands out because of the border of cut granite and pilasters that frame it, on which is supported the balcony of the main floor. The roof is gabled, with a finish of curved ceramic tiles and large square wooden corbels that do not jut out more than 30 cm. The interior of the building is the result of the consecutive remodelling and is distributed in one home/dwelling per floor, with a large central staircase with three flights and its corresponding hallway in front of the entrance.

Location: Street del Rey, 39.

It represents the first architectonic work of Juan de Villanueva who made his first designs 1768. Promoted by Agustin Bellardi, French Consul, only valid speaker of the French government before the Spanish State Secretaries (Esquilache, Muzquiz and Grimaldi), it was used as a residence of the Consul during the Royal Visits.

The house is a building with a rectangular floor plan, with sides parallel to those of the Monastery and to its auxiliary buildings, originally having only two levels and possibly one more as an attic. His loss of influence with the French Crown made him leave Spain rapidly and sell the building to the Marquis of Iranda, who used it for renting and where the Ambassador of France stayed a great deal of time.

At the end of the 19th century it turned into a seasonal residence increasing its height and incorporating two terraces on its main façade.

Location: Street Gobernador, 3.

In 1771 the Prior of the Hieronymites, Friar Bernardo de Lorca, named Antonio Vicente Yánez Magistrate of the town of El Escorial and of the Real Sitio(Royal Estate) de San Lorenzo, in charge of resolving all civil and military cases that could arise in the city.

For the design and management of this building, Vicente Yánez chose Diego Ochoa, a well-known architect of the Royal Academy of San Fernando who had settled in the Royal Estate and acted as aide to Jaime Marquet in the building of the Carlos III Royal Coliseum.

Originally the building had two floors (ground and first) and a low roof. It had three façades, to the North, West and South, and one partition wall adjoining the aforementioned Casa del Común (House of the Common). The floor plan is trapezoidal and is organized around an axis that joins the centres of its North and South façades, where the entrances were located. In 1773 Juan Esteban certified the completion of the house.

Location: Street Floridablanca, 6, 10 and 12.

Founded in 1717 by Felipe V to lodge new troops in the city; it is comprised by three buildings that are integrated in the urban ensemble. They represent the first Bourbon construction in San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

The new dynasty's enlarged courtesan entourage and its different way of understanding the Monastery and its surroundings were the decisive bases for its construction. The Royal Barracks are in front of the Cavalry barracks using part of some of the stables' lands.

The building has a central pavilion and two others at the ends that were joined by intermediate rooms. All were of two levels and were divided by solid bossed pilasters. This characteristic shows a very possible French influence.

The building was the object of successive remodelling by Juan Esteban, Juan de Ocaña and Juan de Villanueva.

At the beginning of the 19th century with the French Invasion the Estate became a defensive enclave of great importance. After their defeat and leaving the area in 1813, the French troops caused the burning of the main barracks, of which only their façades were conserved.

The lack of funds prevented its reconstruction so it remained in ruins for many years. The building was divided in five parts that were sold to private individuals and were transformed into dwellings, although they kept their exterior dimensions.

In the 20th century its height was increased, losing its original combining unity and took on the commercial and catering uses that exist at present.

In the 1960's the demolition of two of the five houses that comprised it made it impossible to recognise the block as an urban ensemble.

Location: Street Juan de Leyva, 18 / Street Patriarca, 4.

The ensemble that we know today as Cocheras de Rey (King’s Coach Houses) is the product of the merger of Coach House of the Marquis of Valdecarzana and of the Casa y Cuadras (House and Stables) of Juan Esteban. The latter designed both in 1771 and 1767 respectively.

The first of them and another building that existed in a place that today is the San LorenzoPublic School were conceived to be used by the courtesan hierarchy during the Royal Visits. In the 19th century it became a small seasonal palace conserving part of the walls and adding new rooms. Later it became an apartment house and later on after a period of standing empty, it was joined to the so-called House and Stables of Juan Esteban.

This building originally had a ground floor and a main floor in which there were rooms. It also had a stable of sixty-three stalls that served as lodging, sickbay and hairdresser’s of the stables.

The War of Independence and the distancing of the stays of Fernando VII provoked the deterioration of the house. In 1835 it became part of His Majesty’s patrimony in the Royal Estate although, after the revolution of 1868, a private individual acquired it to transform it into a hotel.

At the end of the 19th century it was used as a seasonal residence and later in the 1950's the building was comprised by many homes per floor and the end of the 1960's the buildings made up what today is the Royal Coach House.

Location: Street Juan de Leyva, 21.

It is the second work of Juan de Villanueva in San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Campo Villar, member of the royal entourage saw in Villanueva the qualities necessary for the construction of the building, which would not be a personal home, but a house to rent during the Royal Visits.

Built in 1773 it was attributed with a certain resemblance to a small Roman palace. The semi-circular arch in the entrance stands out, decorated with bossed stone of the rustic style of the Italian Renaissance, as well as the straight chains of rock on the corners.

In 1866 it was divided into two parts, although after a little while it once again belonged to the same owner.

The successive owners used it as a seasonal residence, and even as a house-hotel for vacations with a back garden. Progressively, its appearance was modified adding new elements to the building, such as a glassed-in gallery and another story. In the middle of the 20th century a section is added to the main dimensions of the building.

Restored in 1982, nowadays it is used as the main dwelling of its residents.

Location: Street del Rey, 18.

It is the best-known private work done by Juan Esteban and the one with the best architectonic quality. The regular proportions, decoration and clarity of its internal distribution are good evidence of it. Esteban, saturated with official assignments in different Royal Estates, designed and directed some of the individually owned houses of San Lorenzo.

In 1771 Felipe Díaz Bamonte, in charge of the furniture and keys of the RoyalPalace, built this building to rent to the Court during the Royal Visits.

The house is located next to what was called “Plazuela de la Fuentedel Caño Gordo”, nowadays Plaza de San Lorenzo. Its freestanding façades make up a perfect parallelogram, with the main and secondary façades oriented towards the north and south respectively. The building has three floors. The walls are of masonry with lime in the walls; corners and decoration of granite stonework and the façades divided uniformly with equal openings.

The building underwent transformations over time, for example, the tearing down of the openings in the upper floor and their conversion into balconies. In the interior, the lodgings are only differentiated by the number of rooms and are distributed and composed according to the needs.

In 1993 the façade is restored and the roof is repaired.

Location: Street del Rey, 7 and 9.

At the end of the 18th century, the Government of San Lorenzo de El Escorial built its last great work for the Común de Vecinos (Resident's Common) that consisted of the "Large house for the storage of wines, grocery articles, fish, bacon, other branches and rooms".

In 1797 the urban centre of San Lorenzo was already consolidated, which made it impossible to find a centrally located place to construct the building, so the space occupied by the "Veeduría" (Inspector's Office) was chosen for its site.

The project was given to Juan de Villanueva and the construction took place from 1797 to 1806. In the building the main façade made with granite ashlars, the entrance through a large central arch and the arcades that make up the interior patio stands out.

Due to the increase in number of students in the Elementary School of the Royal Retinue, located in the Casa de los Soportales (House of the Porches) from 1794, the governor proposed its transfer to this building, and Juan de Villanueva was entrusted with adding another floor in 1806 that could be accessed from the street Francisco Muñoz.

Both functions, educational and commercial were kept until, in 1873, the poor condition of the building made the City Hall auction its restoration. After this work, that will cover the interior patio, it becomes an appreciated building because of its suitable fitting-out.

During the Civil War if suffered some damage because of its abandonment, losing its glass on the upper floor.

In the year 1949, the Mayor of San Lorenzo de El Escorial requested the carrying out of different work to avoid its collapse. This way the glassed-in roof was recovered by a skylight, the second floor is closed in with the present gallery and a "T"-shaped staircase is introduced between the two first floors. A little later, the new skylight fell because of a great snowfall.

One of the largest repair jobs was carried out in 1967, once again as a result of the risk of the roof falling in. At that time the street called Repeso is covered, located between the Market and the Cuartel de Invalidos, meeting the needs of commercial space that appear at this moment..

Location: Street Alarcón, 10.

King Carlos III promoted the construction of this building, located next to the Casa Grande del Común (Large House of the Common) and at the beginning isolated from the first population sector, in order to alleviate the continuous accidents and illnesses that affected the workers of new houses in San Lorenzo de El Escorial. While construction was being carried out, the king ordered the construction of a provisional hospital with four beds.

The building, work of Juan Esteban, was carried out between 1771 and 1774, although part of it was inaugurated in 1773. It stands out because of its forty beds and the separation exiting between men and women.

After Juan de Villanueva substituted Juan Esteban, remodelling was carried out in the building, which was affected by a terrible windstorm that devastated the town. As a curiosity we can underscore that the cost of the staff and maintenance of the building was financed by the theatrical performances in the Coliseum and the bullfights.

In 1801 Juan de Villanueva designed the extension of the main room, whose costs were met by the Prime Minister by selling the properties of the RoyalHospital. Its operation is maintained during the later years, fighting against the epidemics of smallpox, cholera, etc., that affected the city.

In 1836 the first ConstitutionalCity Hall decided to withdraw some posts because of the lack of funds and resumed the former formulas of subvention, performing comedies in the Coliseum to benefit the poor of the Hospital.

After the Revolution of 1868 the ownership of the building passed to the town, obtaining funds for its restoration.

In 1940 a report is written about the poor condition of the building, and it became Secondary Centre of Hygiene and Fumigation Station, with baths for the destitute and the elderly and houses for nuns and nurses.

In 1943 with the appointment of Carmen Polo as Honorary Mayor of the Royal Estate its denomination was changed to the Hospital de la Alcaldesa (MayoressHospital).

Between 1974 and 1976 a radical transformation of the building place. And at the end of the 20th century the building was restored in depth, recovering its original name and housing the San Carlos Healthcare and Specialties Centre.

Location: Street Duque de Medinacelli, 7.

The promoter was Luis Felipe Fernández de Córdova y Gonzaga, Gentleman of the Royal Chamber, heir of the 12th Duke of Medinacelli, one of the most powerful Houses of the Spanish Grandees. The high nobility did not construct the buildings in the Royal Estate to rent, but to house their families during the Visits.

Juan de Villanueva designed a house of palatial characteristics, with trapezoidal floor plan arranged in two peripheral corridors, leaving in its interior two airshafts separated by the three-flight staircase. The entrance, centred in the façade, was done as is usual, with projecting roofs and lateral pilasters with cantilevers, on which is supported a balcony that does not jut out very far with an iron-cast handrail.

In 1971 the restoration of the building was carried out since it was in ruins, transforming it into a building of homes with five floors that nonetheless conserves the former wall, the entrance and the original window openings.

Location: Street Duque de Alba, 3 and 5.

The promoter of this enormous building was the 9th Duke of Arcos, Antonio Ponce de León, one of the gentlemen closest to Carlos III. The design and direction was done by the architect Manuel Machuca Vargas.

Soon the needs of the initial project were overflowing due to the marriage of the Duke to the widow of the first-born of the House of Alba, which forces him to double the number of servants that would become an authentic legion of more than three hundred people.

In 1784, Maria del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva y Silva inherited the famous house of the 13th Duchess of Alba, who used the building as a residence during the Royal Visits in the city.

Its architectonic configuration coincides with the style that Juan de Villanueva imposed in the Royal Estate, two floors and an attic, as it was one of the few buildings in the 18th century that did not have a third floor added at the end of the 19th century.

The main access is surrounded in profiled rock, with projecting roofs also of masonry, similar to the Houses of Trades. The entrance the coach house conserves a large wooden lintel. The windowsills of the upper windows are the type of the Monastery's Pharmacy or the Barracks of the Disabled, not extending vertically farther than the jambs. In total it is a construction of large robust dimensions, maintained globally in its external appearance in spite of the deformation of some of the openings of the commercial premises and the recent transformation of the hallway and the main stairs.

Location: Street Las Pozas, 3.

It is one of the most relevant buildings of the urban centre of San Lorenzo, whose original architectonic characteristics have been maintained with small alterations since its construction in the 18th century. From its origins the barracks also functioned as a jail for the town, a function that ended up by naming the entire building.

It is a building with an originally freestanding rectangular floor plan, today joined with the market, whose structure was resolved by load-bearing rock walls and domed roofs. Its exterior appearance presents a similar typology to that of the Monastery and the Houses of Trades, very smooth walls of granite masonry, cornices of the same material and sloped slate roofs.

The ability shown in the resolution of its combining elements, their solidity and spaciousness, as well as the skill that was shown in their design, make you think without doubt of Juan de Villanueva as the architect. Even the exterior anticipates the constructive organisation that, appropriate of the monastery, Villanueva carried out in the Houses of the Lonja. It is the future “Centre of Herrerian Studies”.