Hacienda de las Higueras or de los Auchones

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 1678

This set of buildings erected in the second half of the 17th century in the valley of Los Auchones, between Taganana and the hamlet of El Chorro, still stands, although its use is no longer the original one. 

During the second century after the Conquest, the lands on the northern slope of Anaga, as in other parts of the island, were extensively dedicated to vine cultivation. The best wines were selected for export to the main markets of England, Northern Europe and America. Therefore, in at least five valleys on the northern slope of the Anaga massif, haciendas dedicated to the wine business were established. These constructions, arranged around a courtyard, housed residences for owners and workers, granaries, warehouses, kitchens, cellars, wine presses and, of course, chapels that provided religious support to the inhabitants of these small population entities.

The one at Las Higueras, also called de Los Auchones after the name of the valley where it is located, was an estate founded by Juan de Urtusáustegui Villanueva y Acuña. The hacienda later became known as “de los Condes” when ownership passed to the Counts of Siete Fuentes.

Of this entire architectural complex, the chapel is the best preserved. Dedicated to Saint Teresa of Jesus, it was blessed on 10 August 1678. It is a single-storey square building, with a wooden gabled roof (“ vien obrada ”, according to chronicles) and a four-sided tiled roof. On the exterior, painted angels at its corners guarded the temple, of which today only one is faintly visible. Inside, accessed through a wooden lintelled door with iron rivets, there is a floor of red quarry stone, a local material also used for the small holy water font carved into one of the side walls. The enclosure also contained a canvas depicting “ the image of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Our Lady and Saint Joseph ”.

Around 1940, a wine press was added to the side of the chapel and it was converted into a cellar. The former workers’ houses of the hacienda are currently mainly used as storage, and only the kitchen chimney remains of the main building.

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