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Casa noble. I hate having to ask, but ...

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Bert45

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... what would you call "casa noble" in English? All I have found on the interweb is "noble house", which isn't an English expression – at least, it's one I've never heard of. My specific reference is the Casa del Cordón in Castrojeriz. MonumentalNet.org says: "Casa noble del siglo XVI."
 
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Scroll through the list on linguee and see which English translation is the most suitable for a building like the Casa del Cordón in Castrojeriz:

casas nobles - Traducción al inglés – Linguee

Muchos ejemplos de oraciones traducidas contienen “casas nobles” – Diccionario inglés-español y buscador de traducciones en inglés.
www.linguee.es

I didn’t realise that the Albergue Rosalia is actually part of this building but that’s what they say on their website.
 
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English does not have a single expression that corresponds to "casa noble". Context!!! This is what the casa noble with the specific name Casa del Cordón in Castrojeriz looks like - hardly a stately home:



The Casa de Lorenzo de Tejada in Burgos that was discussed in a recent thread is also a casa noble.
 
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trecile said:
The question is, what makes them noble? Is it because the original occupants were some sort of nobility?
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Yes. German has an equivalent word (Adelshaus) and just like the Spanish term (casa noble) it has two meanings: it denotes buildings, usually large townhouses owned or formerly owned by an aristocratic family, as well as all the members of an aristocratic family like the Habsburgs or the House of Bourbon (current king of Spain) or the Tejadas.

That’s why the house in Castrojeriz has two sculpted coats of arms on its façade. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen so many coats of arms in stone on townhouses as I saw in some of the towns on the Camino Francés. Really noticeable.
 
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Here is a short article about "noble architecture" (that's what the automatic browser translation says) in another part of Spain. Sometimes these buildings are also called "palace" but this word does not correspond to what I personally understand as "palace".

So these three buildings are typical casas nobles. Now find a term for them in English if an acceptable suggestion for a suitable caption for a photo of the house in Castrojeriz has not yet been found.

 
Pilgrim9 said:
Is this it?

Restaurante Casa Cordón · Castrojeriz, Burgos

maps.app.goo.gl
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Yes, that's the building. We did not eat in the restaurant which you enter directly from the street because we joined other pilgrims in the communal meal that was offered in the Albergue Rosalia where we were staying; their entrance is in the wall on the right side of this building (up the steps from the street).
 
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It does have shields indicating family crests on it.
 
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House of a noble(man) or town palace? The English aristocracy tended not to live in elaborate houses in towns and cities so there is no real equivalent, hence no commonly used term.
 
Does the term "casa rural" relate in any way to "casa noble," by way of origin or context? Casa rural is another one of those expressions that seems so natural in Spanish, but finds few analogues in English - country house, or bed and breakfast, possibly.

I ask because I also found tequila on my internet search for "casa noble" - but also a highly-rated casa rural just down the street in Castrojeriz. It makes me curious about how casas are named now, and how they started being named in the past. Casa Rural el Rincón del Chef
 
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Thanks for all the serious suggestions. I'm going to caption my photo"a former nobleman's house". No further suggestions necessary.
 
AlanSykes said:
"Nobility house" isn't English. Sounds from context that we'd call it a "stately home"?
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On the other hand, English is a constantly evolving language. Isn't everyone impressed by the number of words and expressions Shakespeare used that were not English - at least until he used them.

As a native English speaker I instantly understood what was meant by "nobility house".

Whereas "noble house" just makes me think of James Clavell.
 
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Pelegrin said:
In Spain the nobilty didn' t pay taxes. So, a Casa Noble didn' t pay taxes.
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I didn't know that. But don't you mean that the owner of the house didn't pay taxes? So calling a house a "noble house" is simply a way of saying that it was owned by somebody who didn't pay taxes because (s)he had a title. The Casa del Cordón is not what I'd call a stately home. A stately home is something like Burghley House or "Downton Abbey", i.e. Highclere Castle (which is not what I'd call a castle).
 
If it's a building, then manse or mansion, or stately home as @Bert45 suggests. But the more rustic ones would be best called manses in English.

If it's a family, then yes, noble house. There are other phrases, but that's probably the simplest one. (OED example : 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 2 b, This Thomas comming of a noble house, gave him self wholy to learning.)
 
Bert45 said:
I didn't know that. But don't you mean that the owner of the house didn't pay taxes? So calling a house a "noble house" is simply a way of saying that it was owned by somebody who didn't pay taxes because (s)he had a title.
Click to expand...
Yes it is obvious but I was thinking of taxes related to the house like having chimney, number of windows, etc.
 
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