Casa Pérez Soto

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Sites of memory · Year: 1908 · Authors: Antonio Pintor y Ocete

This building, now disappeared, was erected in 1908 following the plans drawn up by the architect Antonio Pintor as a private residence for the Santa Cruz businessman Enrique Pérez Soto.  

The building, which was located at the lower corner of Juan de Padrón Street (formerly La Gloria) and Carmen Monteverde Street (formerly Santa Isabel), was a three-storey construction of marked eclectic typology, so practised by Pintor in those early years of the 20th century.

The owner of the property, Enrique Pérez Soto (1854-1925), was a prominent figure in Santa Cruz at that time. A prestigious merchant among the city's business circles, he became a councillor of the city council. A great philanthropist and benefactor of the Hospitalito de Niños, he was also a patron and donor of important paintings by the artist Miranda for the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes de Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Municipal Museum of Fine Arts of Santa Cruz de Tenerife). His interest in the artistic world led him to preside over the Real Academia Canaria de Bellas Artes (Royal Canarian Academy of Fine Arts).

Pérez Soto was also co-founder of the Caja General de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Santa Cruz de Tenerife (General Savings Bank and Pawnshop of Santa Cruz de Tenerife). On 15 March 1911, in the ground floor of his own house now discussed, he opened to the public the first office of this institution in Santa Cruz. Decades later, the Savings Bank and Pawnshop moved to a more modern building located on Pérez Galdós Street, built on a plot bequeathed by Enrique Pérez Soto himself shortly before his death.

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