On Cristobal's death in 1571 and that of Louis in 1572, it passed to
Cristobal's son Diego. From the date of this Diego's death in 1578,
when the direct male line of the Discoverer's descendants became
extinct, the history of the house becomes obscure: it was sequestered
by court decree in the course of the long inheritance litigation
between the members of the Columbus family and appears to have been
awarded in 1583 to the Admiral of Aragon, son of a sister of Louis and
Cristobal, and in 1605 to Nuno de Portugal, grandson of another
sister; the former may have sojourned there temporarily, but it is
doubtful whether the latter or any of his descendants ever visited
Santo Domingo. There is reason to believe that it was occupied for a
time by the family of Luis de Avila, judge of Santo Domingo City, who
was married to a daughter of Cristobal and whose children were still
living in the colony at the end of the sixteenth century. When in 1790
a descendant of this Avila was at length awarded the last vestiges of
the Columbus honors, no attention seems to have been given to this
house, which was then as complete a ruin as at present, though it was
in better condition and the arcade supporting the front porch was
still extant.
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