The Casa de Osambela is a building built during the colonial era of Peru. It stands on the old Novitiate of the Dominican fathers, destroyed by the earthquake of 1746, and part of the garden, facing the Calle de la Veracruz (today Jirón Conde de Superunda) in the historic center of the city of Lima. It is one of the largest mansions in the center of Lima and is notable for its wide façade and excellent quality balconies. It is a late colonial building with a mixture of successive styles, its construction dates from the late-18th and early-19th centuries. It was completed between 1803 and 1805. History The land where the Casa de Osambela stands was owned by the Basilica of Santo Domingo and, in order to meet some payments and finish some works on the church that had remained unfinished, it was sold to the Spanish shipbuilder, banker and merchant Martín de Osambela, Marquis of Osambela and lieutenant colonel of militias. The lot bought by Osambela corresponded to the ruined and almost destroyed part of the novitiate. In the Municipal Archive of Lima, Bernardo Moravsky found that Osambela had a carriage and barouche. Osambela in 1815 apparently must have become seriously ill, because he made a first will declaring that he had no heirs. But by a second testament, made in 1822, it is disclosed that he married Mariana de Ureta y Bermúdez, being the children of said marriage: María Mercedes, Mariana, José Valentín, Dolores and Cayetano. Osambela married at a very mature age and was many years older than his wife, who was a lady of exceptional beauty. When the liberator, Don José de San Martín, arrived in Lima, Osambela put his house at his disposal for the great dance that the liberator offered to Lima society, having stayed there after proclaiming the Independence of Peru. Osambela died in the Real Felipe Fortress of Callao, where he took refuge with others in the times of José Ramón Rodil y Campillo. From then on, the Osambela family was forced to rent the different facilities of the house as commercial premises and houses from whose income the widow and children lived. In 1840, an appraisal of the property was made, which resulted in: Lower house: 28,620 pesos. Upper house: 41,364 pesos. Osambela's wife had to get rid of the property to pay off some debts and so, in 1854 the