Guillem Cifre de Colonya's house in Pollença goes on sale for 3.2 million euros

PalmThe former family home built by the pedagogue, teacher, and politician Guillem Cifre de Colonya in the early 20th century, located in the privileged Colonya Valley (Pollença), has gone on sale for €3.2 million through a British real estate agency.

The house, popularly known as Ca Don Guillem Cifre de Colonya, is not Colonya's original property, but a newly built house that Cifre had built on the same property after the premature death of one of his sons. According to local sources, the decision to build this new residence was influenced by health reasons: his wife, Clara Hammerl, attributed the child's death to the unhealthiness of Pollença's urban center.

Thus, the family sold the village manor house to the writer Ramon Picó y Campamar, a friend of Cifre's and secretary to Count Güell, who later gave it to the nuns of Sagrat Cor. From then on, Cifre and his family moved to the new house, surrounded by nature, in a peaceful and secluded setting.

An iconic property with great potential

The property now on the market has 540 m2 of built area on a plot of approximately 2,400 m2. It has seven bedrooms, two bathrooms, and several traditional rooms, including a library, a living room with a fireplace, and another with a piano, surrounded by terraces, greenery, and views of the mountains. The kitchen retains old features, such as a Mallorcan oven and a pantry with access to the outside, although it may need some updating.

The property was later owned by the prestigious Navarrese architect Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza, designer of works such as the Huarte de Formentor house—now a Site of Cultural Interest—who left his mark with specific renovations.

Cifre's legacy, beyond architecture

Guillem Cifre de Colonya (Pollença, 1852–1908) was a key figure in the introduction of Krausist thought to Mallorca. Trained at the Balear Institute and in Madrid, he was a professor at the Free Institution of Education and a driving force behind a modern, secular, working-class pedagogical model. In 1879, he founded the Free Institution of Education in Pollença, and shortly after, in 1880, he created the Colonya Savings Bank, with the aim of promoting savings, facilitating access to credit, and helping day laborers become smallholders.

His educational project, inspired by freedom of thought, coeducation, and contact with nature, often met with opposition from the local ecclesiastical authorities, but marked a milestone in the social and cultural history of the islands.

Now, the sale of his former family home reopens the debate about restoring the heritage associated with him. Some residents suggest the building could host activities related to free education and local historical memory. In fact, some see the purchase of this space as an opportunity for Caixa Colonya to recover a symbolic piece from its origins.