Plaza de los Álamos

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Squares, streets & markets · Year: S. XV

This space was shaped very early on by the confluence of San Marcial Street (formerly San Martín Alley) and Herrería Street. 

Plaza de los Álamos was the public place that served as the antechamber to the first hospital built in the city, San Martín, founded in 1481 in the house that had been ceded by the conqueror Martín de Navarra.

The plaza probably took its name from the presence there of several specimens of common poplars, trees used for the ornamentation of public spaces since very early times; which suggests the interest in keeping the place cared for and beautified.  

The plaza was paved very early and remodelled on several occasions, the last in 1586, a date when it is known that all the necessary stonework for the benches and crosspieces of its pavement had been delivered. 

The area underwent a transformation at the end of the 18th century, when the old hospital was relocated, its former building demolished, and the Cathedral expanded in its northeast sector.

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