PETIT TORRE
It is the best example of a Cádiz-style lookout tower preserved in Puerto Real.
As a whole it is a remarkable building of architectural interest distributed around a central courtyard, its most singular element being its watchtower, popularly known as “Petit Torre”.
From here you have a perfect view of the bay of Cádiz and especially of the Trocadero channel, a port enclave of great importance during the eighteenth century and where some of its owners had warehouses linked to trade with America.
The building as a whole was constructed between 1722-1724 on the initiative of the Genoese merchant Juan Tomás Timón y Ferrari on a site and quarry that had been owned until then by the convent of San Francisco de Paula (Mínimos de la Victoria). In 1743 the property was acquired by Tomás Miconi y Cambiasso, a Genoese businessman who obtained from King Ferdinand VI the title of Marquis of Merits, and the estate remained linked to his heirs until the end of the 18th century, when another important family of merchants linked to the Carrera de Indias, the French Archimbaud family, came to live there.
After being almost ruined during the occupation of Puerto Real by Napoleon’s troops (1810-1812), it changed owners several times during the 19th century, becoming a popular tenement house where several families lived.
In 1867 it was bought by José Carlos Gordon y Villaverde from Jerez, a member of the Gordon family, originally from the north of Scotland, who had settled in the area during the 18th century to dedicate themselves to the wine business.
