Salamanca Public School (José Antonio)

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 1932 · Authors: Rodrigo Poggio Lobón

The great boost in the sector of official public works during the Primo de Rivera dictatorship was felt in Santa Cruz de Tenerife with the construction of three large school centres (San Fernando, Isabel la Católica and the later named José Antonio) in different neighbourhoods of the capital.

For the Salamanca neighbourhood, a plot was chosen in the upper part of the area. The architect of the Ministry of Public Instruction, Rodrigo Poggio Lobón, drew up the plans in 1928. The complex to be built consisted of two graded schools (one for girls and one for boys) with three sections each. Work began at the beginning of 1929 under the direction of the architect Pelayo López and Martín Romero, with the entire complex completed in April 1932.

The school for the Salamanca neighbourhood, which after the Civil War was named "José Antonio", is a work of very modern conception for the time in which it was designed. It is a building of great austerity, balance and harmony, all combined with a pragmatic sense of functionality, anticipating the values of the incipient rationalism that was already being practised in some constructions of the time. Without having such a spectacular plot as its contemporary in San Fernando in the Duggi neighbourhood, here the main façade is distinguished from the rest by means of a body projected outwards (with a superimposed attic), equipped with a classical-rooted entrance made of artificial stone.

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