Alameda de la Marina

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Squares, streets & markets · Year: 1787 · Authors: Andrés Amat de Tortosa

The Alameda was the first public park or green space in the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. It was one of the best-executed urban reforms of its time. Although the initiative for its construction is attributed to Miguel de la Grúa Talamanca, Marquis of Branciforte and Commander General of the Canary Islands, it was funded by contributions from the wealthiest local residents.

It was built in 1787 based on plans by the military engineer Andrés Amat de Tortosa on a plot forming a right angle with the dock, in a balcony-like position overlooking the sea. Its design was inspired by the Enlightenment idea of combining urbanism and nature. People strolled there, enjoyed the sea breezes and views of the port, and occasionally musical concerts were held inside it. 

The Alameda is a rectangular enclosure whose main entrance is through a portal with three arches featuring a coat of arms, two marble plaques with inscriptions describing the date and who made it possible, and two allegorical statues of Summer and Spring of Genoese workmanship. This frontispiece is topped at its ends by marble vases.

Inside, there were three streets or promenades with compacted earth floors covered with sand, where two rows of poplars were planted, replaced around 1830 by Lebanon plane trees and tamarinds. Open to the east breezes, which prevail longest in the port, it barely maintained its trees, as the vegetation was damaged by sea salts. In the centre of the promenade is a Carrara marble fountain with a hexagonal basin from which rises a pillar crowned with figures of three dolphins joined by their tails, the top of which is now missing.

The Alameda de la Marina was an oasis of peace and calm in an environment dominated by port activity. It underwent numerous reforms throughout its history. In 1915 its portal was demolished (the one we see today is a replica of the original) to widen the entrance to the dock and adjacent streets. Currently, inside it features spectacular Indian laurels, but the whole complex is now in a completely transformed setting, far from the sea it once overlooked.

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