Casa del Miedo

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: S. XVIII

This is one of the few examples of magnificent traditional Canarian architecture that still survives today in Santa Cruz. The house was built in the first half of the 18th century and little is known about its original owner, surely a wealthy person given the size of the building and its location, in one of the most exclusive places of Santa Cruz at the time. 

The large house is located on Calle de La Noria, on a plot quite narrow for the volume of the building. It is constructed, as was usual at the time, with thick load-bearing walls of stone, lime and mud.

On the exterior we find a very well-organised main façade. On the ground floor we observe two large doors, a central window and just below, another elliptical opening. On the upper floor two new windows are displayed. The entire front is framed by a plinth and two grey bands imitating basalt stone on the corners. The ensemble is topped by a stone moulding and the crowning is arranged by placing crossed wooden slats with a railing between plinths. Interesting are the two stone gutters at the ends.

Inside we find a small covered patio. The main bay has two floors and a third recessed one on the roof terrace, which is a walkable roof and has a wooden staircase leading to a viewpoint. 

Several legends endure about the name of the house. The most plausible may be the one that says that in the adjacent alley, called "El Miedo" (The Fear), the bodies of the recently deceased were deposited in ancient times until their transfer for burial in the wastelands that then existed on the other side of the Santos ravine, near the hermitage of San Sebastián. This is why it is said that the place caused true fear to those who approached the surroundings.

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