Royal Nautical Club of Tenerife

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Cultural spaces · Subcategory: Institutions · Year: 1937-1946 · Authors: Miguel Martín-Fernández de la Torre

The Royal Nautical Club of Tenerife was founded in 1902 by a group of citizens with a great passion for maritime sports. Its first headquarters was located on San Pedro beach, next to the fort of the same name, situated at the height of where the passenger maritime station of the port of Santa Cruz is today. It was a modernist-style building made almost entirely of wood and was designed by the architect Mariano Estanga in 1905.  

At the beginning of the 1930s, the Club considered building a new headquarters on plots located on the edge of the San Andrés road, near the Paso Alto fort. The project for the new building was commissioned to the architect Miguel Martín-Fernández de la Torre.

In 1934, the technician presented the plans which conceived a construction with a marked rationalist language. In the words of the architect himself, the aim was a building " of great simplicity and clarity not only in its exterior appearance and façades, but also in its structure ". And so it was; the building presents aspects of horizontality and volumetric multiplicity, sober and without superfluous ornamentation. Inside, the architect favoured the use of the free plan, defining spaces through screen plays, but always maintaining a clear sense of continuity, thanks to the use of translucent and transparent materials.

The construction of the building was slow and costly; with the Civil War in between, the building was not fully completed until January 1946.

The Nautical Club of Tenerife, throughout its history, has contributed to the city a rich activity both cultural and especially sporting.

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