Recruitment Office

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Military architecture · Year: 1937

The former Building for the Recruitment and Reserve Zone, Recruitment Office, Reserve District, Review Classification Section and Quartermaster Offices, popularly known as the Recruitment Office, located at the corner of 25 de Julio and Pérez de Rosas streets, was designed by the Engineering Command in 1937.

It is a three-storey rationalist-style building, with regularity in the facade openings and contained prominence in the access sections. The construction works were funded by the City Council of the capital under an agreement with the Army whereby these lands (then known as the Campo de los Belgas ) were exchanged for those of the San Cristóbal castle, at the entrance to the town from the port. The site where the Recruitment Office was established had served for a very short time before as a military riding school.

Once the building was completed, it functioned for decades as the Mobilisation and Reserve Centre, a mandatory passage point for thousands of young people from Tenerife ("mozos") who had to fulfil compulsory military service. Currently, with the professionalisation of the Armed Forces and the abolition of compulsory military service at the beginning of the 21st century, the building changed its tactical-operational purpose. It currently operates as the Defence Subdelegation in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, managing administration, personnel and incorporation into the armed forces.

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