The palace was built in the middle of the eighteenth century by the vice-admiral of the Spanish Overseas Fleet, Tomás Gómez de Gayangos. Its style is what was known at the time as Barroco Criollo, that is to say, Spanish Baroque with American colonial influences.
The building was constructed of ashlar stone and has two floors, plus one more under the roof. At the back there is a courtyard and a carriage door, with the stables and implements area to the far left of the site.
Above the entrance door and at each of the main windows, is a balcony with an ironwork grille supported by a corbel. The drain gargoyles that adorn the building are particularly striking; an unmistakable sign that the building was originally constructed with a terrace as a roof, following the styles of the palaces of Mexico. Later, due to the climatic conditions of La Rioja, which were radically different from those of the former American colony, the building was adapted in line with the characteristic rooves of the area, with the gargoyles becoming a new, decorative architectural feature after that renovation. This is the only palace in the region to have this feature.
This emblematic site has always been linked to the world of wine and was inhabited by the Pobes family, descendants of one of the oldest winemaking families in La Rioja, the Quintanos. The site was later acquired by the Marquis of Vargas, Hilario de la Mata y Sáenz de Calahorra, from his brother-in-law, Galo de Pobes, as a gift to his wife, Teresa de Pobes.
This gift, which united the two surnames within one same family branch, is today the Palace of Marqués de Vargas, formerly the Casa de los Pobes or Pobes’ House, which, as of this year, has embarked on a new concept, the Marqués de Vargas Palace project.