La Caleta Street

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Sites of memory · Year: 1502

This street, now disappeared, occupied more or less the road development of the current General Gutiérrez street, although its appearance has nothing to do with the original. The old La Caleta street was one of the oldest urban roads in the city, already documented in 1502.

In the early days of the settlement, it was used as an access route to the original landing stage, at the edge of the outlet to the sea of the Aceite ravine.

Port activity soon moved to a small cove located a little further north, a place that today would correspond to the site of the current Correos building. This coastal area, in those early years of the place, was known as Caleta de Blas Díaz, named after the person who used it as a shipyard and built several ships there. Later its name was shortened and it became known simply as La Caleta. The street started here, parallel to the sea, and for a long time was the beginning of the cart road that connected the landing stage with La Laguna. For this reason, and given its importance for traffic with the interior of the island, it was the first street in Santa Cruz to be paved around 1567. Next to it, from the earliest times, stood the so-called Fortaleza vieja , a military building preceding the San Cristóbal castle. In 1742 the Royal Customs House was built at the start of the street, so from then on it was also known as Aduana Street.

The first important figure known to have established residence on this street was the adelantado Alonso Fernández de Lugo himself, who built a house as a temporary residence when coming down from La Laguna. Over time, wealthy merchants and high-ranking military officers also had residences here, given its proximity to the dock and the main castle.

The street, of irregular width and with its cobbled pavement, was a place of great civic activity. It was also the scene of important historical events in Santa Cruz, ranging from the death of the intendant Ceballos at the hands of the people in 1720, to the street fights against Nelson's troops who managed to land on the nearby beach in the early hours of 25 July 1797.

Today nothing remains of this street. Its start can only be intuited from Plaza de España to its junction with Imeldo Serís, where a bust of General Gutiérrez, the military chief who defeated Nelson, stands, giving his name to the new road, now far from the sea.

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