Espíritu Santo Square and calle Castillo

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Squares, streets & markets

This is a high quality environmental piece located towards the outskirts of town towards the centre of the island. The square is bordered to the east by the hermitage of the Espíritu Santo and the Casa del Canónigo; to the north by Casa Manrique and to the south by the Casas Manrique de Lara y Quintana. It originally had a garden, but has undergone a series of interventions touching the 19th century structure. There is a central fountain, designed by Ponce de León, that reminds us of the new water system that sprang from this square and went all around the city. It is historisist-classist in design, is square with a channelled base and trays, on which four seated feminine sculptures (architecture, painting, sculpture, music, now no longer here) and a temple. This has four arches holding up a polygon based dome over a drum with floral decoration, with the accent on romantic décor. 

The architecture in Castillo is made up of a mix of Neoclassical-academic styles and responds to traditional house with courtyard design, with back gardens which drop down to the Guiniguada ravine to the north, while to the south there are rear or service courtyards that opened out onto orchards that now belong to the calle Santa Bárbara. With the exception of nº 13, dating from the 17th century, the façades all have a symmetrical structure with Neoclassic or romantic designs (such as the Casa León y Joven, at nº 6, designed by Manuel Ponce de León in 1867) and an ever piano nobile structure, with symmetrically lined balconies. The area's whole character is provided by the use of stonework in the recesses, plinths and cornices.

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