The construction of outbuildings in the suburbs of Dubrovnik began in the 14th century. At the beginning of the century "castella" (small, fortified buildings on estates and vineyards in Astareja) are mentioned. During that time of increasing peace and stability many beautiful houses with stone decorations which differ in size and appearance from farm and country houses were being built and at the end of the 14th century they already stand out as land estate houses. The gardens exclusively of a useful character that surround them gradually cross over into gardens for comfort and take on their characteristics. Land estate construction spreads from the City along the coast and the islands, first throughout Astareja, then throughout the islands and throughout Rat (Pelješac) after the annexation of Primorje. In the immediate vicinity of the City, in the area of Pile and Konal, numerous densely lined aristocratic, but also civic, gardens and vineyards were created in which smaller land estate buildings are built and the gardens gradually acquire elements and parts that serve comfort. The natural landscape of Astareja with its indentation, beauty, climatic conditions and tameness of cultivated areas, was created to bring to life new, humanistic principles of living. Here, at the end of the 15th and during the 16th century, summer residences lined the Župa Bay and Field, the Gruž Bay, and the banks of the Dubrovnik River and Zaton Bay.
The suburban areas of Pile and Konale are covered with a dense network of small estates with gardens and representative land estate construction and the Gruž Bay and the banks of the Dubrovnik River are still lined with summer villas . In these two picturesque bays the most densely distributed, largest and most luxurious summer cottages with their small gardens are located. Zaton Bay is rich in summer villas , but further west, along Primorje, summer villas are built only in larger settlements of the coastal zone from Orašac to Slano and they are all of a mixed, land estate -economic type, like the summer villas on the Elaphite Islands.
