Rationalist Route II - 05. Siemens Brothers House

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Routes · Subcategory: Rationalism route · Year: 1936 · Authors: Miguel Martín-Fernández de la Torre, Richard Ernt von Oppel

The house for Enrique and Lothar Siemens, built on a large plot in Ciudad Jardín, was designed in 1936 under strictly rationalist premises in collaboration between Miguel Martín Fernández de la Torre and the German architect Richard E. Oppel.

Oppel arrived in Tenerife in 1932, aged 46, on a holiday trip and it was here that he met Miguel Martín, with whom he would collaborate for at least four years. In clear harmony with the avant-garde architecture that the German architect had already been practising in Hamburg, the connection between the Teutonic technician and the Canarian was immediate (they became brothers-in-law), Martín entrusting him with some works commissioned by German residents in the Islands; such was the case of the Siemens brothers.

This work reflects, without cracks, the new aesthetic of rampant rationalism at that time. It is a composition of cubic volumes, where horizontality predominates due to the dominance of glazing, continuous terraces, cornices and eaves. The play of vertical planes at different depths that delimit its volume to the street is interesting, a play in which the exposed staircases connecting the levels participate.

Although the degree of participation of both authors in this project is unknown, the fruitful dialogue between Miguel Martín and Oppel was possible thanks to the architectural language they shared, based on the basic principles of the "Modern Movement".

Oppel in 1936, after four years of collaboration, moved to Germany. After the end of World War II, he returned to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria where he would spend the rest of his days.

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