Villa Purificación, popularly known as “Don Jaime’s chalet”, is an old summer house that has now been turned into a cultural space and home to the permanent museum collection of Montanejos. It is located near the river and its construction plan, as well as most of the architectural complex, dates back to 1929, according to oral sources.

A few years after its construction, around 1930 under the supervision of Joaquín Cataluña and with the participation of many people from the town, the house was seized during the Spanish Civil War, first by the Republican side and, in 1938, by troops of the rebel army.
During its seizure by the Republicans during the war, it was first used as a school and then as a hospital. With the advance of the Teruel Front, Villa Purificación was occupied by Franco’s troops, with General Ricardo de Rada establishing his headquarters there in July 1938 with the 152nd Division. It was in 1939, at the end of the Civil War, when the family regained the ownership of the villa.
Villa Purificación as a reference for summer vacations
Villa Purificación (along with the Chalet de Pascual or Villa Don Ramón) was one of the first vacation houses made in Montanejos for families of the Valencian upper bourgeoisie, which were built following the canons of Mediterranean villa architecture, stepping away from the traditional architecture of the area.
The pieces of land that were chosen for the construction of this type of villas were far from the town centre, located next to the main road and overlooking the Mijares River and the fertile lands along its banks. Other buildings that remain standing as witnesses of that period are Villa 10 Hermanos and Villa Adela.

The Villa and the Asensio family
The construction of Villa Purificación was the initiative of a Valencian businessman called Mr. Jaime Asensio Tarín. He was one of many holidaymakers who enjoyed the waters of the Fuente de Baños de Montanejos. Jaime Asensio Tarín inherited from his father the “Jaime Asensio Belt, Rubber and Asbestos Factory “. The business was located at Pascual y Genís Street, No. 17 and Lauria Street, No. 18 in the city of Valencia.
This interest in La Fuente, the lack of establishments with the comforts these families were used to, along with the bourgeois idea that having estates makes a better social status, were the reasons that motivated D. Jaime Asensio to decide to build a chalet to spend the summer season with his family in. To do so, he bought two plots overlooking the Mijares River, which he combined into a single plot where he would build the two buildings and the garden that make up Villa Purificación.
Don Jaime Asensio Tarín and his wife, came with two maids from Segorbe and when they arrived in the town in their car, the inhabitants of Montanejos took it as a great event. The couple came with their children to spend the summer season: Ricardo and Jaime. In turn, Jaime Junior had five children: three daughters (Pilar, Purín and Conchín), and two sons (Jaime and Ricardo). Ricardo had a son (also called Ricardo) and his daughter Marivitas, who also had four daughters. And all of them used Villa Purificación to spend the summers and vacation seasons, from its construction until the 80s.
The name “Villa Purificación” comes from D. Jaime Asensio Tarín’s wife: Dª Purificación Ballester. Although we do not know the name of the architect chosen by Jaime Asensio in 1929, since the architect’s file has not been found in the archives consulted, there is no doubt who the master builder was, according to the oral sources consulted, which agree that Joaquín Cataluña, a resident of Montanejos, was the one in charge during the construction of the Villa.
Joaquín Cataluña himself was the person in charge of directing the subsequent reforms that were carried out in the two buildings that make it up.
The style of the Villa
The construction plan, as well as most of the architectural complex, dates back, according to oral sources, to 1929. At that time, late modernism, late eclecticism or historicism and art deco still predominated, styles that are reflected in its exterior design and, above all, in the decoration of the interior of its spaces.

After the war, and due to the changes produced during the successive occupations by both sides, the architectural complex underwent a period of reforms dated approximately between 1951 and 1952. These reforms were also directed by Joaquín Cataluña, always according to the testimony offered by Jaime Asensio’s grandson.
It is worth mentioning the balustrade around the perimeter of the complex, running through the garden and the rear terrace of the villa, topped by pinnacles over rectangular pillars in each section. In the area of access to the house and the garage, on the side pillars, the finials reproduce fantastic dragons built with artificial stone which are partially preserved. The enclosure that runs along the road side is made up of pillars, also topped by pinnacles, but whose sections are closed with a grille on a brick plinth.
The exterior of Villa Purificación
Villa Purificación is one of the first buildings built in Montanejos for the summer holidays of a bourgeois family to be built in Montanejos, following the canons of Mediterranean villa architecture with a garden, and stepping away from the traditional architecture of the area.
For its construction they chose plots of land far from the town centre, located next to the access road to the town and overlooking the Mijares River and the orchards along its banks. It is on one of these plots that the garden is located, which also serves as an orchard with vegetable and fruit crops to supply the house.

In the garden area, an underground cistern for storing water for domestic and irrigation use stands out. It is the central part of an entire hydraulic system, built at the same time as the layout of the site and the construction of the houses at the beginning of the 20th century.
The water was raised from the irrigation ditch to a tank located above the kitchen for the supply of water for domestic use by means of a hydraulic pump located under the staircase that connects the perimeter terrace of the ground floor in the central building with the garden. The layout of the flowerbeds and the irrigation ditch in this area are preserved in the garden area.
Nowadays, the garden is made up of Mediterranean and native species that refer to the traditional dryland crops of Montanejos. These crops, such as olives, almonds and vines were, for centuries, the driving force of the local economy, along with those used for the production of crafts, such as mulberry, hemp and flax.

Villa Purificación today
Nowadays, this modernist gem from the beginning of the last century houses, in addition to the wealth of a historic town of these characteristics – preserved and respected in the best possible way – is a permanent exhibition about the river landscape and the natural environment of the Mijares River as it passes through the town.

Since 2019 this property, rescued and restored by the Montanejos Town Council for its heritage, is operational and open to the public, housing an Interpretation Centre, and has been declared a Site of Local Relevance – a legal figure to ensure the protection of relevant heritage. In addition, the Villa has a recreational use as it hosts events in its gardens such as concerts or summer cinema, as well as recreational activities for senior citizens, fairs, conferences and other activities.
With the ticket to enter Villar Purificación you can also visit the Montanejos Ethnological Museum.