Engineers Command

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Military architecture · Year: 1893 · Authors: José de Lezcano Muxica

This building closes the south side of the magnificent block built in classicist architecture dedicated to the military branch which, together with its gardens, ennobles this entire extreme area of Triana. The urban block of extraordinary quality is composed of three buildings. The largest, located in the centre of the space, houses the Military Government; the two smaller lateral ones are: on the south flank, the former Engineers Command; and to the north, the former Artillery Command. 

The importance of the role of military engineers in the Canary Islands has been very significant. The need to fortify and defend the islands was their main function. They built barracks and other types of military installations (forts, batteries, powder magazines, watchtowers, hospitals), as well as numerous civil works (ports, roads, paths, bridges, housing, etc.). These technicians also mapped and described a rugged and steep territory, while participating in other types of social and intellectual activities in which men of the stature of: Leonardo Torriani, Próspero Casola, Tiburcio Rossel, Antonio Riviere, Manuel Hernández, Francisco de La Pierre, Andrés Amat de Tortosa or Antonio Samper, to name a few, stood out. In short, they were military men who, with the contribution of their knowledge, had much to do with the improvements of the basic infrastructures of the Archipelago, particularly in the urban planning of the main Canarian cities.

Despite this, the military engineers did not have a specific place to settle in Las Palmas until well into the 19th century, when they occupied a house at number 15 Castillo Street. In 1893 they moved to the new Command, designed by the military engineer José de Lezcano Mujica Acosta, as were the neighbouring constructions.

Smaller than the Military Government, the building intended for the military engineers functions as a kind of two-storey side pavilion with mezzanine, where its rusticated lower body and windows with pediments framed in striking basalt masonry stand out. The façade is topped by a balustrade intercepted in the central body by an apparent pediment.  

It housed the technical offices on its ground floor and mezzanine; on the upper floor, the main one, was the residential pavilion of the Engineer Commander of Las Palmas.

Currently the building houses the military optics and the Army Information Point.

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