Real Hospicio - San José Residence

XVIII century The architect in charge of building the Hospice was Luis Bernasconi. The Hospice was begun in 1785 and in 1790 it was finished and already lacking resources, so in 1793 the inmates were taken to Zaragoza and the building was occupied by the Real Compañía de Ganaderos de Soria y Burgos, which built, attached to the Hospice, a wool manufacturing factory, with washing, fulling and dyeing facilities. The Company occupied the building until 1803. After the seizure by the Treasury, the Hospice became the property of the Diputación de Soria, which still owns it today. During the reign of Bishop Horcos (1853-1861), the nuns of San Vicente de Paul took over the care of orphans and foundlings. Today it is still used for charitable purposes under the name of Residencia San José. The Royal Hospice is a voluminous building, of enormous simplicity and a quadrilateral floor plan. It has a frontage of 84.8 m. by 46.4 m. deep. Inside you can see two courtyards, undoubtedly similar to the central courtyard of the Seminary. Its masonry is of masonry with the corners and edges of the openings of ashlar, like the doorway. The most interesting part of the Hospice is the main doorway with the upper balcony. The entrance door is a very low arch above which there is a balcony on the main floor that gives the composition an elegant, very Sabatine-like appearance: the door that leads to the balcony opens into a niche. Crowning the opening, in the niche itself, is a striking stone coat of arms of Carlos III.