The Former Hotel Santa Catalina

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Memory spaces

In 1888 an important project began to take shape for the orchards of Santa Catalina; we are of course referring to the creation, in London, of the Grand Canary Island Company, which promoted the construction of the hotel Santa Catalina, the most important establishment of its kind in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, towards the end of the 19th century. Plans were put together by British architect James M. MacLaren, with an open structure, with numerous gallery terraces and two temple viewpoints on either side of the building, open and crowned with bulbous domes. The property was surrounded by sumptuously prepared gardens, which ran along a number of interior walkways, as they extended from the sea front all the way back to where the present day Paseo de Chil stands, as can be seen on plans by Laureano Arroyo, in 1898. The size of the project forced the promoters to present the Town Hall with a second building application in 1889, in order to build a wall and an entry point and a series of complementary pavillions on site. This second application was signed by directing architect D. Norman Wight, and inspecting architect, D. Laureano Arroyo. The current Hotel Santa Catalina is one of the finest regionalist buildings from the independent era, and stands over the site of the orginal primitive colonial hotel. 

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