Mansion at nº 23 Paseo de Las Canteras

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Memory spaces · Year: 1898 · Authors: Laureano Arroyo

In 1898, at the confluence of the Paseo de Las Canteras with calle Tomás Miller and calle Alfredo L. Jones, banker D. Juan Rodríguez Quegles commissioned D. Laureano Arroyo y Velasco with a "housebuilding" project on the plot of land he owned. The building covered a large surface area and was in two parts: according to plans, one was a lower building, for the day service, next to a higher one, for night service. The surrounding gardens were fenced off giving it greater grandeur. The whole building was enhanced even further by two differently sized turrets, set on the ends of the broken triangle that the building was set on, on the second floor. One of them covers three levels but is more reduced in surface area, and was placed in a southfacing position, while the other, larger one, faced west. Both fit in well with their surroundings, although their aesthetics differed considerably. On the first turret, the third level of the prism stood out as it had a protruding wooden balcony, covering all its sides. The four sloping gables that topped the structure ran into an ovoid hemisphere, which, in turn, was crowned by a ball with a vane. On the western turret, the finishing of the sloping roof was formed by a square section, in the shape of a lantern. Its gabled roofing was also crowned by a ball and vane, which didn't reach the height of the first turret. The roofs had small undulating gables on them.

The building was originally planned as a summer retreat, and was rented out to the Colegio Viera y Clavijo, which opened its male Port centre at this very site, in 1939. In 1958 it closed its doors for good, while its owners, the Sintes Rodríguez family, looked to have it demolished at a time when their was huge touristic growth in and around the Las Canteras area.

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