Post and Telegraph Office

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Cultural spaces · Subcategory: Institutions · Year: 1943-1957 · Authors: Luis Lozano Losilla

This building houses the main headquarters of the Post and Telegraph offices. The first location of the Post Office in the city was at number 30 San Francisco Street, later moving in June 1900 to number 9 La Marina Street. The current building was designed in 1943 by the architect Luis Lozano and is located on the site formerly occupied by the old Royal Customs House, a building erected in 1742.

The construction we see today rises in three differentiated bodies with a clear pyramidal sense: the first, developed on the ground floor and made of natural stone; the second comprises three floors with six attached and paired pillars on both sides of the door. The last body, the upper one, is developed in two different units: the first of a single height and the second designed in four bodies, like turrets; the central one composed of a huge semicircular arch over which rises a rectangular base finishing with a curtain of columns, which gives greater lightness to the massive character of the whole. The interior of the building is organised around a central courtyard and all the offices are arranged around it.

Although the project was prepared in 1943, work did not start until 1946, being halted for years due to various economic problems. Finally, the building was completed in 1957.

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