Victoria Asylum

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Sites of memory · Year: 1911 · Authors: Antonio Pintor y Ocete

The Santa Cruz City Council aimed throughout the 19th century to establish an asylum for abandoned and orphaned children. It sought to provide shelter to that "helpless childhood wandering the streets and squares of this capital, sleeping outdoors in groups of four and six of both sexes", as described by the local press at the time.

In 1849 an Orphanage House was founded under the charge of the Municipal Charity Board and the boys were housed in the old hospital and the girls in a house on the Church square. The lack of funds for its maintenance did not allow this initiative to continue. 

On 22 March 1906 a charitable society was formed under the direction of Áurea Díaz Flores to provide asylum and education to abandoned children and children of people without resources.  Queen Victoria Eugenia was appointed patron and honorary president, hence the name "Asilo Victoria". 

In May 1907 the City Council granted a 3,000 square metre plot on Galcerán street corner with Noria Alta (today, Ramón y Cajal) for the construction of the large building intended for the asylum under the project of the architect Antonio Pintor.

The Victoria Asylum was inaugurated on 16 April 1911, managed by the brothers of the Christian Schools who began to care for more than 180 children, alternating theoretical classes with practical teaching of trades such as carpentry and shoemaking. It was the beginning of vocational training in the city.

In 1943 the institution passed into the hands of the Salesian Community, which carried out enormous work until 1979, when this community moved to new facilities located in La Cuesta.  It was then that the old building was demolished, and in its place a building intended for private housing, offices and businesses was erected.

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