The building is one of the most interesting examples of Spanish Renaissance, composed of two patios that present an image of unity, as they are only separated by columns. The project by Alonso de Covarrubias was altered by successors to the works.
This regular shaped building with an Italian style stone facade in which the equidistant windows, rectangular on the lower floor and semicircular on the upper, being the other way round at the ends, predates the austere facade of the El Escorial palace-monastery. The twin patios on two levels, separated and joined at the same time by the double arcade that crosses them from the church, allows a wide range of perspectives, very much in the style of Italian palaces.