THE CAPITOLIO OR MANSION OF VELAZQUEZ

This prominent Indiano Mansion, also known as Country Villa, is attributed to the Santander architect D. Juan Miguel de la Guardia.  It was ordered to be built at the end of the 19th century by D. Manuel Velázquez, who was an emigrant from Santo Domingo.
It has an eclectic style and is an outstanding example of Indiano architecture which is very typical in the village of Grado.
The building was erected in the centre of a spacious and beautiful garden which at the beginning of the 20th century had a replica of the sculpture “The Three Graces” by the Neoclassical Italian sculptor Antonio Canova. 
Structurally, it presents a square floor plan with two levels, an attic and a tower. The tower has four floors with a pyramidal roof truncated with glazed ceramics in attractive colours and a glassed-in gallery from which you access the top terrace.
On the main facade stands an Ionic portico with lintels to which there is an access through a double string stone staircase with an Imperial Italianized style. The lateral and rear walls are laced with wide hollows similar to the adjacent gallery.