Ajuria Enea
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The Palace of Ajuria Enea, situated on the Fray Francisco walk in Vitoria-Gasteiz, is the official residence of the Lehendakari (president of the government) of the Basque Country.
The building, chosen to be official residence on the basis of its architectural merits, was purchased by the Basque Government from the former owner, the Provincial Council of Álava, in 1980. [1]That same year it was occupied by Carlos Garaikoetxea, first President of the Basque Government after the restoration of democracy in Spain.
The palace, which was built in 1920 by the Swiss architect Alfredo Baeschlin and the contractor Hilarión San Vicente for the local industrialist Serafín Ajuria, displays all the architectural elements of neo-Basque art on the exterior. After being the residence of the Ajuria family, in 1966 it was handed over to the religious order of the Madres Escolapias, who used it as a school. Six years later, in 1972, it was purchased by the Provincial Council of Álava for conversion into a museum of Basque art, and it was open for the public for two years until it became the Lehendakari’s official residence.
