Casa Serra

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

This is one of the best surviving examples of traditional Canarian architecture in Santa Cruz. It may be the oldest building on Calle del Castillo still standing. From its style and materials we can affirm that the construction dates from the early 18th century, when the street was developing westwards, uphill. 

The house has two floors and a tiled roof. On its façade facing Calle del Castillo, on the lower floor, we observe three large lintelled openings framed by wood. On the upper floor, a charming central balcony covered by a roof separates two beautiful sash windows. On the other façade, facing Nicolás Estévanez street, we find several irregularly aligned openings. The building has a charming viewpoint with terraces and wooden railing on its roof terrace, accessed by a curious staircase. 

The interior has been highly altered over the years due to the commercial use of the property, although it barely maintains the small central patio. 

In the commercial premises on the left of its ground floor, a pharmacy was established in the first half of the 19th century, founded by Gumersindo Fernández de Moratín (1790-1860) and later, from 1865, run by his son-in-law Emilio Serra y Ruz (1833-1903), pharmacist, journalist and politician of a clearly progressive-republican sign who gave the house its name.

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