La Lonja del Cáñamo (Hemp Market) was built from1606-1617 by Francisco Galiança. Originally, it had a rectangular base, two storeys, two open façades and two large arches supported by Tuscan columns. In 1792, in light of the building’s ruinous state, Castellón’s City Hall agrees to sell it part of it. The building thus acquires a very peculiar characteristic: the ground floor is municipal property and for public use, while the upper level is a family dwelling and private property. The new construction shows late baroque façades with allegorical paintings by Joaquín Oliet, a painter from Morella. In 1906, the municipality sells the old market and it falls into private hands. The new owners give the building an eclectic character and classic style that means the closing of the arches and the construction of a mezzanine turn the ground floor into a store and the rest of the building into bourgeois home. Vicente Castell carried out the pictorial remodel and was able to preserve Oliet’s allegories while incorporating pompeyan motifs. In 1984, La Lonja is declared a historic and artistic landmark.

In November 1999, the Universidad Jaume I (King James I University ) acquired the building to recover it for the city as a centre for educational and cultural development. During its recent architectural renovations, workers have tried to be faithful to and recover the accumulation of styles that the building has gone though over the years.

La Lonja del Cáñamo is catalogued as a Bien de Interés Cultural (Property of Cultural Interest), and is recorded in Patrimonio Cultural (National Heritage) and in Patrimonial Cultural de la Generalitat Valenciana (Cultural Heritage of the Generalitat Valenciana).