Bank of Spain

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Cultural spaces · Subcategory: Institutions · Year: 1933 · Authors: José Yaroz Larrosa, Luis Menédez-Pidal

The Bank of Spain opened its first branch in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1887 in a rented premises at 27 Castillo Street, until in 1924 the plot where it is now located was acquired, on Viera y Clavijo street.

The building is one of the best examples of official Canarian architecture in the 20th century. It is the work of architects José Yaroz Larrosa and Luis Menéndez-Pidal y Álvarez, who signed the project in 1926. It was conceived imitating the entity's central offices in Madrid, from which derives the preference for a giant eclectic order with classicist motifs. Its main façade is divided into two lateral bodies and a prominent central one. It has three tall doors topped with semicircular arches, above which stand four large Ionic order columns. At the top sits the entity's coat of arms, which during the Second Republic, when the works were completed (1933), had its royal crown replaced by a rostral type. Inside is the large vestibule, scrupulously decorated, from which a beautiful staircase starts. The ceiling shows a leaded stained glass window decorated with fruit motifs and geometric compositions in various colours.

It currently continues to perform the same functions for which it was created and overall, thanks to the good materials used and its good execution, it is in a good state of conservation.

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