Walking through the narrow streets of Granada's Albaicín district, you might easily pass by the Casa del Horno del Oro without giving it a second glance. The plain facade at number 14 on Calle del Horno de Oro doesn't hint at what lies behind its walls – which is exactly what its original 15th-century builders intended.

This Nasrid house follows the classic Islamic principle of protecting family privacy from the street. The original entrance, with its brick arch and geometric decorations, leads through a zigzag hallway that opens onto a rectangular courtyard centered around a small pool. It's a layout you'll recognize if you've visited other Moorish houses in Granada, though each one has its own character.

What makes this place particularly interesting is how it evolved over time. The original 15th-century structure was built during the reign of Muley Hacén, between 1464 and 1485, with porticoes on the north and south sides featuring those distinctive scalloped arches on Nasrid columns. The decorative elements are subtle but beautiful – stars and rosettes in the spandrels, remnants of painted decoration on the wooden ceiling of the northern portico.

Then came the Christians in the 16th century, and they had different ideas about how to live. They added an entire upper floor and opened up galleries on the longer sides of the courtyard. The eastern gallery is particularly striking, with its wooden balustrades and Gothic-influenced details that create an interesting blend of Moorish and Christian architecture.

The house spent centuries as a tenement building after the expulsion of the Moriscos, which actually helped preserve some of its original features. When the state finally acquired and restored it in the 20th century, they found elements like the original carved stucco arch leading to the upper southern room, complete with small niches in the door jambs where valuable items were once stored.

Standing in that courtyard today, you can see how domestic life worked in medieval Al-Andalus. Every room opens onto this central space rather than connecting to each other directly. Rooms could transform throughout the day – a meeting space during daylight hours, sleeping quarters at night.

The contrast between the closed exterior and this intimate interior world captures something essential about Islamic domestic architecture. An audio guide can help you spot details you might otherwise miss, especially in the upper floor's Mudéjar elements.