The main building elements used in the Jara region folk architecture are clearly determined by its location. The basic materials are stone (slate, granite, quartzite, and boulders), wood and mud.
The use of lime mixed with sand or mud is typical of la Jara. This mixture is used as mortar, plaster, and as whitewash.
The main element in buildings is slate masonry (La Nava de Ricomalillo, Mohedas de la Jara, El Campillo de la Jara), although granite masonry is also found (Aldenueva de Barbarroya), as well as adobe and brick walls. Particularly remarkable are the curved or cornerless walls of the region, which avoid the need for large stone blocks and prevent cracks.
Roofs are a very characteristic element of Jara buildings. In the Jara, they are usually made of curved or Arabic tiles. Tiles are placed on a base of mud and rockrose, broom, or hurdle branches, over pinewood rafters or a wood covering. Usually roofs are gabled, almost always parallel to the street, with equal sloped and slight inclination.
In Jara homes, windows are an important element in the building structure. They are small, yet large enough to allow the minimum light and air to come in. Lintels are made of wood, stone or brick, window frames are wooden, and shutters on frameworks have simple grates, surrounded by plaster and whitewashed. It is typical of some town to place a protection against rain on top of the window, with large slate slabs forming a vertex.
Doors usually have a thick holm oak or ash lintel, or granite or slate lintel, although there are also lintels in the shape of a semi-circular arch or a basket-handle arch. Most lintels are masonry or brick, with granite lintels with large doorposts being less frequent.
Of particular interest are the Toledillo neighbourhood in La Estrella, the Zorra neighbourhood in El Campillo and the upper reaches of the La Nava de Ricomalillo old town, as they preserve the traditional buildings of the Jara region. There are some houses in Mohedas de la Jara whose folk architecture is more impressive than the humble buildings found most often in the region. Particularly remarkable is the house which was the birthplace of one of the most famous local personages, don Juan Ãlvarez de Castro, Bishop of Coria.
