The floor plan of a typical house in the villages is adapted to the requirements of the climate fluctuations on Mallorca and is practical: A corridor from the front door of the house on the street, running through the entire building to the adjoining backyard, creates a breeze, which (and also through small windows) can be used to regulate the temperature. The bedrooms are located along the corridor, exposed to the wind.
In the evening, in the summer months, the breeze can cool the rooms with open windows and doors. Exterior walls at least 60 centimeters thick, and of course the neighboring house, at least in villages, protect against excessive heat during the day. Small windows help keep out the summer heat and, in the winter months, repel the cold and humidity.
The fact that the village houses are directly connected to one another for climate control may give the impression of crampedness and austerity. But anyone who has ever seen the inside of a typical Mallorcan village house knows that this isn't the case. The courtyards were the center of family life. Village houses built before the 1950s not only featured flowerbeds and fruit trees such as orange, tangerine, or lemon trees, but also stables for domestic pigs and donkeys, along with chicken enclosures and often a dovecote. Almost everywhere, you'll also find an oven for baking bread. An open-air kitchen and a small idyll.
The double doors, which are usually double, also serve to regulate the indoor climate in these houses: a wooden door with louvers that lets in the wind but not the light. Behind it, a solid wooden door, but the upper wooden part, which also has a glazed window, can be opened to let in only the light. These types of doors can also be seen everywhere in the towns of Palma, Inca, and Manacor.
The facades of the houses are simple. Two small windows, a metal one behind which the water meter is located and a usually wooden one for access to the electricity meter, are set into them. Ventilation in village houses with cellars is provided by a grilled, brick opening, which formerly allowed the cellar to be filled with grapes for further processing. Today, only cheese, potatoes, and fruit are kept fresh down there at around 18 degrees. Beautiful door knockers are valued, while the rainwater pipes and drains supplying the cistern are less attractive.
Wastewater cisterns for the water flowing in from the street have a hole below the curb for access. There is often also an iron ring for tying horses or donkeys and a window at the top for transporting broad beans, carob, and other foodstuffs directly into the granary, although this may not be relevant to you as a renter or buyer of a house in Mallorca.
Other not-so-real-estate-like features you can observe in Mallorcan fields are, in addition to simple stables, very small, low barracks, often open on one side, which served solely as shelter for farmers from the rain.
Furthermore, there are somewhat more elaborately constructed farm tool sheds with a small stable and an open fireplace for cooking lunch or for warming up during work breaks in cold weather. A dining table and a small cistern were also part of the equipment. Straw sacks were sufficient for a siesta.
It is astonishing and worth seeing how, before the introduction of the euro, Mallorca lovers from England and all over the world, with great commitment and enthusiasm, expanded the larger of these former "makeshift" properties into idyllic, attractive houses and small fincas, ultimately using them as collector properties for nature lovers and those suffering from stress – properties for individualists.
Property types in Mallorca - Articles
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Information on buying or renting flats in Mallorca. What you need to consider when buying a flat in Mallorca.
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Tips and basic general information when buying or renting fincas on Mallorca
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Useful information and tips on luxury villas in Mallorca. Special features, origins of modern luxury villas, characteristics, and location.
Commercial real estate
Commercial properties in Mallorca: The market and what to consider when renting Mallorcan commercial properties.