Villalba Hervás Street

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Squares, streets & markets · Year: S. XVII

This important street in the centre of Santa Cruz was known until the late 19th century as Tigre Street. It was already outlined from the last quarter of the 17th century beside the hermitage of La Soledad, and during the following two centuries, along its development from La Marina Street to Norte Street (today Valentín Sanz), buildings of traditional Canarian typology emerged, now disappeared, which housed the most distinguished members of the nascent commercial bourgeoisie of Santa Cruz. 

It was on 18 December 1899 when the city council decided to change the name from Tigre Street to Villalba Hervás Street, in honour of one of the most important political figures of the second half of the 19th century in the Canary Islands.

 Miguel Villalba Hervás (La Orotava, 1837 – Madrid, 1899), lawyer, politician and writer, may be the most prominent figure of 19th-century Tenerife republicanism and one of the leading figures in Spain. An intellectual with firm convictions, he founded the Tenerife Republican Party, which in 1869 incorporated most members of the Democratic Party. He held important positions: provincial deputy in 1872 and the following year, civil governor of the Canary Islands. He was also a deputy to the Cortes in 1881 and 1886, during the Bourbon Restoration. 

Throughout his life he demonstrated an unwavering democratic spirit. He advocated universal suffrage, including the vote for women; supported free elections without influence from powers regulating popular will; defended freedom in the broad sense of the word (press, worship, assembly, association, etc.); and was concerned with and interested in instruction and education as instruments of social progress. 

Throughout his career he always defended the interests of Tenerife in fierce rivalry with Fernando León y Castillo, defender of those of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Madrid. Both were main actors in the so-called "island dispute". The Tenerife native firmly opposed the enormous power of caciquism at that time, which he considered a true obstacle to the country's progress.

He belonged to Freemasonry (in 1873 he was initiated in the Tenerife lodge Teide no. 53 , founded three years earlier) and was a declared anticlerical, opposing a Church which, in his view, had become an "exclusive and intolerant theocracy", thus considering it a serious obstacle to Spain's progress; although he admired some liberal clergy such as the Gomera Ruiz de Padrón, to whom he dedicated one of his historical studies. 

Villalba Hervás also stood out as a writer. Among his publications are: A Page of the Political History of the Canary Islands , Memories of Five Decades , and From Alcolea to Sagunto . His combative pen led him to be director and editor of newspapers such as El Progreso de Canarias and La Justicia of Madrid. 

Given his figure, it is no surprise that Santa Cruz, shortly after his death, named this important street after him; a thoroughfare that was completely transformed during the second half of the 20th century, as was almost the entire city centre. Gone then was its strange connection with La Marina and La Alameda streets, where a staircase led down to the pavements; the old Tigre Street was at a lower level because, in that stretch, the San Francisco ravine sought the sea level for its outlet.

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