Marquis Martin Lopez Isasi and his wife Domenja Orbea gave orders to build it in the sixteenth century. It was built, as was customary, outside the village proper, on the road to Ermua.[1] At the time, members of the Isasi family held important positions in the Spanish court. In 1631, king Philip IV of Spain entrusted the education of his illegitimate son Francisco Fernando Isidro (Francis Ferdinand Isidore) to Juan Isasi Idiakez, the marquis at the time. The boy lived at this house from age 4 to 7, when he died on March 11, 1634. It does not seem that this fact bothered the king too much, since a few months later, in November 1634, Philip entrusted the marquis with the education of his son and legitimate heir Balthasar Charles, the Prince of Asturias. However, there is no notice that Balthasar Charles ever lived at this house; he also died young, at age 16, but in Zaragoza.[2]
Since the 18th century, the building was occupied by a congregation of nuns. In the last quarter of the 20th century, the nuns left and a Basque-language school or ikastola used the building. In the 21st century, the city council renewed the building at ceded its use to the Basque Summer University, which is headqueartered there since 2000.[3]
