Casa De La Iglesia: 1700s Walled City Estate, Courtyard Pool, Rooftop Mirador, Boutique Hotel Scale

Casa de la Iglesia — A Landmark Residence Inside the Walls of Cartagena

Some houses are bought. A rare few are inherited from history. Casa de la Iglesia belongs to the second kind: a grand colonial estate of the 1700s, rising three storeys beside the church tower that gives it its name, in the UNESCO-protected heart of Cartagena de Indias. With approximately 1,143 m² of built space on a 641 m² lot, it offers a footprint few properties inside the walls can match, and the scale to become whatever its next owner imagines.

Life Around the Courtyard

Past the stately corner façade and its tall shuttered doors, the city falls silent. A colonnaded courtyard opens to the sky, hung with cascading vines and centred on a pool of deep blue, the scene that has made Cartagena’s casonas famous. Arched galleries frame the patio and link a sequence of salons with soaring beamed ceilings, thick colonial walls and the cross-breezes the original builders designed for. Hammocks sway along the upper galleries, long tables gather beneath the arches, and a billiards room and formal dining hall give the ground floor the capacity to entertain on a serious scale.

Upstairs, spacious bedroom suites open onto wooden balconies above the historic streets; the house offers seven bedrooms and seven bathrooms in all. The rooftop is the crescendo: a mirador terrace with its own pool and open-air lounges, looking across terracotta roofs to the domes and bell towers of the Old City and, every evening, to a glowing Caribbean sunset.

A Rare Canvas: Residence, Boutique Hotel or Cultural Landmark

Scale is the scarcest commodity inside the walls, and Casa de la Iglesia offers it in abundance. Renovated yet rich in original character, the estate may be enjoyed as a legacy family residence, reimagined as an ultra-luxury boutique hotel in a city whose finest hotels are colonial mansions, or established as a cultural, gastronomic or hospitality destination. Seven bedrooms, generous ground-floor volumes and two pools give an operator everything the concept requires.

Why Cartagena, Why Now

Cartagena’s walled city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a fixed supply of colonial casonas and a growing international audience of second-home owners, hospitality groups and investors, drawn by direct flights from North America and Europe and one of the most romantic settings in the hemisphere. Properties of this footprint rarely come to market, and almost never openly.

Property Highlights

• Approx. 1,143 m² built on a 641 m² lot, across three levels
• 7 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms
• Colonnaded central courtyard with pool; galleries, patios and balconies throughout
• Rooftop pool, terrace and panoramic mirador over the Old City
• Authentic 1700s colonial architecture: arches, high beamed ceilings, original details
• Billiards room, formal dining hall and open kitchen
• Suited to private residence, boutique hotel or cultural and hospitality use
• In the heart of Cartagena’s UNESCO-protected walled city

Presented by Angela Becerra, Lux Haven Collection and Sotheby’s International Realty. Floor plans, a full dossier and private viewings are available on request. Discreet enquiries are welcome from principals, family offices and hospitality groups.