Hotel Pino de Oro

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Sites of memory · Year: 1903?

The Hotel Pino de Oro was located in what at the time were the outskirts of the city, on a spacious estate above where the Mencey hotel now stands. This location, away from the urban centre, was considered beneficial for those tourists who arrived on the island seeking rest and a healthy environment. For decades it offered accommodation to travellers and tourists, mainly of English nationality, who enjoyed the excellent views over the city and the magnificent private gardens that the establishment had.

The establishment was founded by Alfred Lewis Jones, the head of the company Elder Dempster and Co. , and by his trusted man and manager in Tenerife, Farrow Sidall Bellamy. This English company, with branches in Las Palmas and Santa Cruz, was very successful in maritime traffic, trade with the British colonies in West Africa, ship agency services, the production and export of fruits and vegetables, banking, and insurance. To round off their investments, the company invested in the nascent Canarian tourism industry, setting very low prices for a new type of passenger who took advantage of the stopovers in the island ports of the company’s own ships on their voyages to the colonies. This process culminated in the establishment of two hotels in Gran Canaria (Hotel Metropole and Hotel Victoria), and another in Santa Cruz: the Hotel Pino de Oro.

We know that Pino de Oro was already operating as a tourist establishment in 1903 and that its rate was 6 shillings for full board. The main building, a beautiful mansion, had electric lighting, badminton and croquet courts, and cold and hot bath services. Later, photographic development was included on the premises. But the true jewel of the place was the garden that surrounded the entire complex, endowed with lush vegetation, especially highlighting a magnificent dragon tree.

The Hotel Pino de Oro disappeared at the beginning of the 1970s. It was replaced by a residential building, preserving some plant species from the old garden in its surroundings. Such was the case of the enormous dragon tree, which years later was definitively lost in a fateful storm.

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