The Casa de los Tres Picos (Pointy House)

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture

The Casa de los Picos is the trophy won by a neighbours' association over the Town Hall. It is now the property of the Guiniguada association, but for several years it was the subject of vociferous demands and struggles by the locals of San Roque who had planned that the building should be the centre for their intellectual and social business. In 1990 refurbishment work started to make improvements on the House with the clear intention of turning it into a cultural centre. The work however also turned out to be a kind of exorcism of the fears of the locals in the immediate area. Indeed, this building holds much of the darkest history behind this historic city.

Legends of witchcraft, prostitution, curses, masonic activity and homosexuality float around the Casa de los Picos in an aura of mystery and fantasies, deepened no doubt by its lofty position over the cliff of San Roque.

Although there are discrepancies concerning the exact construction date of the building -one of the most original and characteristic domestic architectural structures in the city- the most widely accepted theory pointing to Luis de Rocafort as the first owner and driving force behind the house. For others the building had been built one century previously according to the project by canon Roa. De Rocafort e Illas, another canon and huge music fan, came to Las Palmas around the middle of the 19th century to look after the organ at the Cathedral. With private classes he gave to the up and coming members of high bourgeoisie in Vegueta, and as a piano salesman, he raised the necessary funds to start work on the first phase of building, in 1850.

'Whim of fantasy' is the name the great master, Claudio de la Torre, gave to a bungalow style house which featured an original façade. It served as the support wall for the rest of the building and sets the structure out into a "T" shape, which can also be appreciated from the inside.

According to the architects responsible for the refurbishment of the 'Pink House', as it was also known, its functionality sets it apart. The five points over the façade, as well as be reminiscent of the organ at the Cathedral, also serves as reinforcement of the main wall. The very same points, in the eyes of the vulgar, were also considered to give it a demon-like appearance, a centre for sin and perversion. 

28.097884, -15.42597