Fonseca House

It is a great example of the sober and elegant neoclassical style. The building is accessed from the Paseo de Colón via a stone staircase, on either side of which are two Sphinxes with the head and chest of a woman and the body and feet of a lion that guard the entrance.^[9] With reminiscences of eclecticism and historicism, a strange conjunction of forms and elements can be observed in the building.^[10]

As for the architectural composition of the building, it represents the atrium of a typical temple of the classical order. The façade is neoclassical, with a large portico of eight Tuscan Roman columns, in the style of a Roman temple, which supports a large pediment opened by a semicircular window.^[11] On the pediment this semi-circular window is a clear reference to the Eye of Providence, known as the All-seeing eye, a symbol of Freemasonry.^[12] At the top, and on each side of the pediment, the façade is completed by two winged Griffins, which give it a French or Napoleonic air. The granite sphinxes, griffins and columns refer to mythological figures protecting places and spaces of wisdom.^[13] The building consists of two floors and a garret, in whose rooms the noble room behind the frontispiece stands out.^[14] The structure of the semicircular window room indicates that it was the site of Masonic meetings and rites in the city. It has a kind of altarpiece with a railing that presides over it.^[15]

On either side of the building's entrance is an Egyptian-influenced sphinx accompanied by large palm trees that frame the staircase and the classical entrance portico.^[16] The building was erected in imitation of a classical temple, such as the Madeleine Church in Paris or the Capitol in Washington. It has all the elements of this period: a grand entrance staircase, a colonnade on the Tuscan-order facade supporting an entablature that serves as a support for a triangular pediment.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Casa dos Fonseca, Pontevedra.

• Aganzo, Carlos (2010). Pontevedra. Ciudades con encanto (in Spanish). Madrid: El País-Aguilar. pp. 90–91. ISBN 978-8403509344.
• Fontoira Surís, Rafael (2009). Pontevedra monumental (in Spanish). Pontevedra: Diputación Provincial de Pontevedra. p. 420. ISBN 978-84-8457-327-2.

• Freemasonry in Spain
• Masonic Temple of Santa Cruz de Tenerife

• Archivo Histórico de Pontevedra at the Wayback Machine (archived 9 December 2014)
• Institución Archivo Histórico Provincial de Pontevedra at the Wayback Machine (archived 11 August 2020)