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Benalmadena – Castillo El Bil-Bil
The
history of this building begun in 1930. A Spanish-French
family by the name of Hermann asked the architect Mr. Enrique Atencia
to build a summer-house in an "exotic" style for them. Mr. Atencia, being
influenced by the then fashionable Islamic architecture, a mixture of
new mudejar and Arabic styles, designed the building. He was helped
by his friend Mr. Antoio Santiesteban, who was a famous restorer of
the Alhambra en Granada and made all the necessary templates for plaster
and typical Arabic decoration, he designed the bars and compiled tiles
to give this building a style which reminds you of the Alhambra. During the construction
of the castle the Spanish Civil War started and the family had to live
in the country and sell the building. In 1937 an American
family called Schestrom bought it and for 30 years they used it as their
family home. As the head of the family was called Bill, short for William,
they called it Bil-Bil. They did a lot of improvements on the building
and the gardens during their stay. At the end of the
70 it was sold to Gerard Saintmoux of Belgian nationality. During this
time the building is completely abandoned and deteriorates because of
the climate and its proximity to the sea. The Benalmádena
town hall bought the Castillo Bil-Bil in the beginning of the 80's.
Mr Enrique Bolín, the mayor, took charge of it and rescued the
building from being demolished. He started the reconstruction and transformation
in cultural centre. The junta de Andalucía and the Benalmádena
town hall financed the last restoration. Local knowledge
says that the name comes from the owner's initials, Elsa (EL) the wife,
William, the husband and son with the same name (Bill and Bill). The Department of
Culture thanks you for your visit and co-operation. The above text was
taken from: << Back
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