First Military Hospital

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Sites of memory · Year: 1779 · Authors: Juan Güinther

The first serious attempts to establish a military hospital in the city took place in 1771, when the general commander Miguel López Fernández de Heredia rented two houses located at the corner of San Francisco street with what is now known as Bouza alley, places very unsuitable for medical care for the military residing in the town. 

At the end of 1776 a plot was acquired to build the first proper military hospital that Santa Cruz had. The land was located on the edge of the road that went up to La Laguna, on the outskirts of the city at that time, as mandated by the new hygienic-sanitary measures promoted by Enlightenment ideas. 

The works were promoted by the Marquis of Tabaloso, then general commander, and were completed in 1779. The building plans were drawn up by infantry captain Juan Güinther and the direction of the works fell to master Domingo Sicilia. Its cost rose to 124,500 reales. All the wood used was donated by the Cabildo.

The result was a large building, but poorly equipped from a hygienic point of view, lacking natural light and ventilation inside. It seems that the entrance was the only area that looked good, as it had a small garden occupying the centre of the first floor of the building. It had five wards with a capacity for 92 beds, bathrooms, galleries where convalescents circulated and an establishment that functioned as a pharmacy. Attached was a small chapel embellished inside by a beautiful altarpiece where the image of a Christ of Sorrows and Agony was installed, today venerated in the church of El Pilar under the name Christ of Mercy. Next to the Hospital there was a small cemetery, whose first burial dates back to 1803.

In front of the building, surrounded by orchards and fields, there was an irregular field that served both for military manoeuvres and, on special festive days, as a place for Canarian wrestling shows. These extensive grounds would become over the years the Plaza de Weyler.

The military hospital at its height had a capacity to house almost one hundred patients attended by a doctor, a surgeon, a pharmacist, 12 servants and a chaplain. It also included the figure of a controller or official responsible for examining the accounts and legality of official expenses.

The old building of the former military hospital disappeared in 1879, giving way to the current Captaincy building. A year earlier, work began to build a new military hospital on a plot located slightly further south of where it had been, very close to the edge of the Santos ravine, on the street later called Galcerán.

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