Built between the 15th and 16th centuries, Palacio de Las Dueñas takes its name from the vanished monastery of Santa María de las Dueñas, located on the adjacent site and demolished in 1868. Its origin was the palace-house of the Pineda family, lords of Casa Bermeja, who were one of the lineages of Seville's patrician class. Its members held important offices such as the chief notary of the city council and participated in military episodes of the War of Granada. Later, the Palace was inherited by Don Fernando Enríquez de Ribera, II Marquis of Villanueva del Río and father of Antonia Enríquez de Ribera, married in 1612 to Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, future VI Duke of Alba. Since this date, the palace has belonged to the House of Alba. In the 19th century, Las Dueñas was converted into a tenement building, its rooms compartmentalized with partitions and the coffered ceilings covered with false ceilings. Interestingly, one of the tenants, and administrator of the Palace, was Antonio Machado Álvarez, whose circumstance made possible the birth of one of the greatest Spanish poets, Antonio Machado, in 1875.

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