"Las Delicias" Baths

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Sites of memory · Year: 1868

Given the fondness of the population of Santa Cruz for sea bathing, it is not surprising that there was a place in the city intended to accommodate users who wanted to bathe on the beaches and enjoy some services related to this practice.

By Royal Order of 29 January 1868, the merchant José Ruiz Arteaga was authorised to build on the north side of the pier, on the edge of the beach that stretched at the foot of La Alameda, a building founded on cast iron columns, intended to house large naval supplies warehouses. Years later, its owner established a bathing house on the ground floor of this building called "Las Delicias". It was a large space divided into twenty-seven rooms intended both for "tub baths" and "sea baths". For the former, there was a marble tub with two taps (cold and hot water). In 1880 the price for these baths was one peseta; for sea baths, a pass of thirty baths could be purchased for one real de vellón; if the bathing frequency was less, the price rose by twenty-five cents. It seems that this establishment was a great business for quite some time. 

At the beginning of the 20th century, the beach where these baths were located was increasingly used as a boatyard for the numerous vessels offering services in the port. On the other hand, the continuous works on the pier caused the coastline to gradually lose sand and its waters to be exposed to the dirt of port traffic.

In 1932 the public baths in the area were removed and three years later the building housing both the naval supplies and the "Las Delicias" establishment was demolished. The beach itself disappeared shortly afterwards with the construction of the Ribera pier.

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