Building designed by the great architect Rafael Gónzalez Villar from A Coruña. Commissioned by the Núñez family in a privileged location in the city, it combined housing with commercial functions and the Bank of Spain's correspondent office in Betanzos. The project includes a large shopping mall conceived as an urban square illuminated by a skylight. The entrance area with the large shop windows and the hydraulic floor stands out. Currently, its function is to be the headquarters of the CIEC Foundation (International Centre for Contemporary Printing), the result of the tenacity of the artist Jesús Núñez, with the aim of promoting and disseminating the plastic arts in general and graphic art in particular. Its collection of engravings is noteworthy, including works by Picasso, Miró, Clavé and the great Galician artist Luis Seoane.
Did you know that in the back of this building, also owned by the Núñez family, there was a chocolate factory from the end of the 19th century? The Núñez family also owned another of the great industries of Betanzos, the Electricity Factory located in Ponte Nova.
We are, probably, in front of one of the most beautiful and representative modernist buildings of Betanzos. The ornament is so important that it is difficult to distinguish between elements that have a functional motif and those that are simply decorative. It is worth noting the author's interpretation of the traditional Betanceiro balcony and above all the Talavera de la Reina ceramic tiles that decorate the façade with the city's coat of arms and the symbol of Mercury, the Roman god of commerce.