The Council Houses were built in 1540 by Pedro Belmonte, according to the stone plaque above its arches.
The building rests on the rock and its irregular wall can be seen in the market. Later on, the House of the Poor was added. It has a three-arched hall covered with a wooden beamed ceiling that communicates with the upper floor through a stone staircase on the left side.
The arches conserve the stone benches that joined them and closed the space of the commodities exchange.
Going up the staircase, in the first section is the jail with its original wooden door covered with iron sheet and keeping the original wrought iron lock and bolt. In the second section one enters the large council hall with three festive windows with molded sills on the outside.
From this floor there is access to the secretary’s office, today converted into toilets, and to the hospital through a paved door.
The councils needed spaces with certain characteristics in order to carry out their functions. Most of the municipalities in the region have a similar distribution, which is common to that of La Cañada de Benatanduz. On the first floor is the market for commercial exchanges, the jail and the butcher’s shop. In the case of Cañada, there is no place for the sale of meat in the municipal building and the jail is on an intermediate floor before reaching the hall.
