Its original building, converted into a hotel in 1930, is one of the most important Renacimiento español [es] (Spanish Renaissance) palaces in the city.

[1] Originally built in the sixteenth century for the dean of the cathedral of Málaga and head chaplain of the Holy Chapel of El Salvador of Úbeda [es], it served as a private home for 350 years.

[1] In 1929 it passed into the ownership of the Spanish state who, while preserving its historic elements, converted it into one of the first of the state-run hotels known as paradores and given the name Condestable Dávalos.

A number of later attempts to expand into nearby properties were abandoned, leaving the parador similar in size and appearance to its original 1930 conversion, with a capacity for 72 guests.

[7][failed verification] The southern frontal façade onto the Plaza Vázquez de Molina is simple and restrained[8] with a marked horizontal nature and symmetry.

The principal door is almost in the centre (being slightly offset towards the west), the steps up to the level of the central patio framed by Doric columns on which two female figures with wings support a coat of arms.

[7][failed verification] Two further windows at each corner of the upper floor are designed in a detail typical of the Hispanic-Renaissance period in Úbeda, their balconies each supported in the centre by a white marble column.

[10] The arches were described by the historian (and in the 1980s, mayor of Úbeda) Arsenio Moreno Mendoza (1953—2021) as an architectural feature of "incredible grace and elegance".

At a further level below that there was a network of vaulted galleries providing space for enormous earthenware jars for wine, olive oil and other foodstuffs.

[11] A nephew of Dean Ortega, Andrés Ortega-Cabrío y Magaña, inherited the palace upon his uncle's death in 1571 and he undertook significant restorations and improvements within the building in the seventeenth century, but without disturbing the integrity of the original features.

The council then gave it free of charge to the newly established Patronato Nacional del Turismo [es] (National Tourist Board) in September that year for the express purpose of converting it into a parador.

The King responded positively, encouraging the town authorities to find a centrally located building to house what would become one of the earliest paradores.

[13][2] Úbeda, Oropesa and Mérida were the locations for the first paradores to be converted from historical buildings rather than built anew,[1] setting the pattern for scores of later paradores; but as the entire building had been taken over at Úbeda, rather than only part (as was the case at Oropesa and Mérida), it was the first to undergo complete rehabilitation.

[13][15] Many parts of the building needed major intervention: the roof and parts of the frame of the building had to be demolished and rebuilt new, while decorative elements like coffered ceilings, cornices, architraves, windows, arches and general woodwork which had been damaged and poorly maintained required intensive repair and in some cases replacement.

As the patio was open to the sky, the upper gallery, which provided access to the bedrooms, had to be protected from the elements with glass panels attached to the insides of the arches.

The public interior areas, designed with the assistance of the Marquesa de San Bautista, were a reminder of the splendour of the original Renaissance palace.

[17] It was inaugurated on 10 November 1930[2] and opened to guests the following day[5] under the management of Pérez Benites[13] and operated successfully until the start of the Spanish Civil War just under six years later in the summer of 1936.

During the early months of the Civil War the individual Paradores fell under the control of whichever of the two major factions was occupying their locations.

There were few foreign tourists visiting the Iberian Peninsula, the hostilities of World War II in the rest of Europe being a major obstacle to tourism.

[21] In 1945, with the ending of World War II, the Francoist regime faced international isolation and sought to improve foreign tourism to Spain as a way of encouraging social and commercial amity with other European countries.

[18] A brochure for the Úbeda Parador, published in 1950 with many illustrations, reveals its interior to have mostly bare walls, but with coloured rugs enlivening the somewhat dark, traditional Spanish furniture and decorative style.

[15] In 1984 two architects - Eduardo Amann Sánchez and Manuel Sainz de Vicuña y García-Prieto (1916—2014) (who over a long career had worked on developing at least 16 paradores)[14] - were appointed to investigate the Palacio and the hospital for possible expansion of the Parador while at the same time remodelling and updating the existing building which had greatly deteriorated in the previous few years "both in the obsolescence of its structural elements and installations and its inability to meet certain functional needs".

There was also radical restoration of the roof, the stonework inside and out, the paving and woodwork and the panelled ceilings while in the main courtyard the columns and glassed-in archways on the upper floor were repaired while concealed guttering was installed.

By the 1990s, the demand for parking facilities and for further rooms to be made available at Úbeda had increased, so the Paradores administration purchased a collective-housing building, and the land behind it, immediately opposite the existing Parador on the Plaza Vázquez de Molina to provide further guest accommodation and facilities for car parking.

[24][25] In 2001 the central courtyard of the Úbeda Parador, which had previously been open to the elements, was roofed in with a steel and glass structure, and air conditioning was installed, allowing the patio to be used as an indoor lounge.

[5] This weather-proofing allowed the glass infills to be removed from the arches of the upper floor gallery, restoring the courtyard structure to its original appearance.