Casa Pallés

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 1881 · Authors: Manuel de Oraá

The quality that this building shows externally in the rich and extensive use of stone is an undeniable sign of the economic capacity of its promoter. José Antonio Pallés y Abril was considered in 1867 one of the wealthiest men in Santa Cruz thanks to his economic activities related to the chocolate industry; furthermore, he owned several plots in the city that provided him with substantial profits. Thanks to this comfortable situation, he was able to commission the construction of this magnificent building located near Plaza del Príncipe and designed by the architect Manuel de Oráa in 1881, within the canons of nineteenth-century neoclassicism. 

It should be noted that this building later housed the headquarters of the Gabinete Instructivo until its disappearance at the beginning of the twentieth century. This institution, founded in 1869, was created with the aim of promoting instruction through the mutual communication of ideas, expressed in oral and written speeches. Among its members were Juan Lentini, Patricio Estévanez, Miguel Villalba Hervás, and Valeriano Weyler, to name a few. The topics discussed in the society were very varied: literature, philosophy, politics, etc. From here, the foundation of the city’s first public library was encouraged.

Later, the building housed for many years the headquarters of the municipal water company and currently, after a major renovation, it shares its commercial use with a hotel.

28.468686, -16.250818