Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Routes · Subcategory: Rationalism route · Year: 1930-1931 · Authors: Miguel Martín-Fernández de la Torre
The group of houses designed in 1930 by Miguel Martín Fernández de la Torre for Joaquín Alvarado is considered the first clearly rationalist typology work built in Ciudad Jardín.
This area was conceived and planned as a neighbourhood intended to attract the bourgeoisie of the capital of Gran Canaria, offering them a new spacious and clean space, with running water supply, drainage systems, electricity, telephone, and garages to park their shiny automobiles. It was the area leaving behind the old city, offering clear signs of modern times.
The example of all this is found here, in the Alvarado colony, where two groups of three and six two-storey houses were built under a strict rationalist design: flat roofs, corner windows, tubular railings, cantilevered eaves, and very sober light-coloured façades with discreet decorative bands on both sides of the windows. The most significant aspect of the composition is the solution of the two lateral finishes with cylindrical volumes inspired by naval design that Miguel Martín combines with cubic elements, an idea he would develop with many variants in later designs.
This set of houses in the Alvarado colony, some terraced and others facing each other, offers a very compact scheme of great architectural and urban interest.