Introduction

"The doors let one peep in…. courtyards with slender columns, the traditional cistern with its iron covering, the flight of whimsily oriented steps…," These are the words of Jules Verne, or rather of the narrator of his novel Clovis Dardentor , in which the main characters embark on a veritable tourist tour of Palma, not lacking in adventure.

It far from strange that the courtyards of the great mansions of the city should awaken the interest of the novelist, just as they awakened that of other travellers who visited Palma at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. The courtyards constitute a unique architectural space that makes the old part of Palma quite singular.

The evolution of the courtyard

The courtyard was an area half way between the street and the house, an environment of relations and communication with the neighbours and a key factor in the distribution of domestic activity. A direct descendant of the early Catalan Gothic style, from the 15th century on it was to incorporate features that would put an end to its initial austerity: the staircases would be grander with sculpted banisters. At the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th, the courtyards would receive Renaissance influences as the presence of scrolls and heraldic inscriptions demonstrates.
The basic layout of a Gothic courtyard would be as follows:

An outer door, which led into the courtyard from the street.

A covered hallway (pas d'entrada) between the outer door and the open courtyard.

A staircase that led to the main floor of the house, and that was simple at the bottom but would have a sculpted banister further up.

The Baroque style burst onto the scene in the 17th century and would become increasingly well established as great fortunes were massed on the strength of trade and privateering. Initial austerity would give way to ostentation, and the courtyard would become a symbol of the social position of its owners.

So, the Baroque brought about a series of changes in the original scheme of things:

The dimensions of the outer door and hallway increased. The cobbled floor became more refined and geometric patterns were introduced.

Portalets d'estudio, as they were known, became fashionable: these were doors that gave access to the offices, libraries and archives of the household.

The columns would change the marès (sandstone) for marble. Ionic capitals would support basket handle arches.

The staircase would increase in size and the banisters would be of wrought iron, normally with balusters

Access to the main floor of the house would be via a loggia or gallery with balustrade.
In later centuries various stylistic trends would come to be incorporated, especially the neo-Gothic style of the 19th century. Finally in the 20th century, the advent of Modernism meant the beginning of the disappearance of the open courtyard in favour of a roofed area with skylights.