Sancho Panza
Dining Room
The Sancho Panza dining room, it’s walls adorned with a mix of Spanish-tile and brick, is an intimate setting for a small group gathering.
Built In 1937 adjacent to the Patio dining room entrance, the Sancho Panza room is an art gallery of its own, including several paintings created in the 1960s that depict every scene from the classic epic novel, “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes.
Hanging from the middle of the room’s ceiling: A hand-blown Murano glass chandlier that once hung in the Don Quixote dining room. The chandelier also hung in the now-defunct Columbia Restaurant on Harbor Island.
At the far end of the room, a beautiful portrait by famous Cuban painter Teok Carrasko of Columbia’s third generation matriarch, the late Adela Hernandez Gonzmart. Carrasco’s other works are on display in the White House and the Vatican. He never took art lessons, and was known for his brightly colored murals.
The painting of Adela, made in 1958, was so disliked by her that it hung upside-down in her garage.
Richard Gonzmart, her son and Columbia’s fourth generation caretaker, removed the painting without her permission and had it cleaned and framed.
“I hung it in the Sancho room without her knowing,” he said.
Years later, the portrait would be featured on the Columbia’s private-label Chardonnay named for her: Adelita.