Lemes Building

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 1942 · Authors: Secundino Zuazo

This set of two single-family homes, with a clear regionalist language, was designed by architect Secundino Zuazo in 1942 for the developer and owner Francisco Lemes.

The work rises on an irregular and steep plot, with the floor plan suitably adapted to the abrupt topography of this land at the boundary between the upper and lower city. 

The houses are developed over two floors and an attic. Both have access through a spacious area dominated by a semicircular arch. The façades maintain an astonishing unity of volume and composition. Notable are the openings framed in masonry with various shutter solutions, wooden balconies, large masonry panels and gargoyles resolved in the typical manner of the place. Everything is crafted under the magnificent use of very well worked local materials.

Zuazo skillfully resolved the adaptability of the work to the terrain. Attention is drawn to the rear ground floor rooms of the building, which are spaces excavated into the hillside like caves; an ancient popular characteristic of island constructions, which the architect integrated into his work as yet another example of his interest in handling the tools of vernacular architecture. 

The Lemes building is a clear example of the best post-war regionalist architecture erected in the city.

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