Canary Islands High Court of Justice (Former Audiencia, Municipal Library and Fine Arts Museum)

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Cultural spaces · Subcategory: Institutions · Year: 1929-1938 · Authors: Eladio Laredo y Carranza

On the large site now occupied by this building was located the convent of San Pedro Alcántara, of which only the splendid 18th-century tower remains today. The convent was disbanded in 1821, with the City Council occupying its extensive premises throughout the 19th century. There were installed the chapter hall, the corporation's offices, museum, library, primary education school, free secondary education school, drawing school, nautical school; as well as the Provincial Council, courts, and even the prison.

After the City Council moved at the beginning of the 20th century to the building on the corner of Méndez Núñez with what is now Viera y Clavijo street, in 1925 it was decided to demolish the old convent building and construct a new one to house a palace for the Provincial Audiencia, Municipal and First Instance Courts, as well as some municipal services such as library, fine arts museum, first aid house, and fire station.

The project selected for this purpose was drafted by the architect Eladio Laredo y Carranza in 1929, with the entire building we see today completed in 1938.

The complex has two floors on José Murphy street and three on Ruiz de Padrón and San Francisco streets, taking advantage of the slope between these roads. The façade facing Plaza de San Francisco, intended for the Audiencia, is resolved by two lateral towers resting on eight Tuscan order columns, topped with an entablature and a low wall with a natural stone balustrade. The central area is mainly composed of the old San Francisco tower framed by three floors, the last with a porticoed gallery opened by semicircular arches.

The façade on Ruiz de Padrón street is resolved differently and is much simpler; it provided access to the courts and the fire station, located in the central courtyard. The one on José Murphy street gave access to the premises of the First Aid House, the Library, and the Municipal Fine Arts Museum. This front is divided into two parts, the lower, with attached pilasters, and the upper, recessed, which contains a set of Tuscan order columns between which are busts of distinguished politicians, artists, and men of letters, such as Nicolás Estévanez, Tomás Iriarte, Valentín Sanz, Teobaldo Power, Ángel Guimerá, Juan de Iriarte, Antonio de Viana, Villalba Hervás, Viera y Clavijo, Bethancourt and Molina.

Currently, the building houses two institutions: on one hand, the headquarters of the Canary Islands High Court of Justice, with access from Plaza de San Francisco; and on the other, the Municipal Fine Arts Museum, located on the opposite façade, with entrance via José Murphy street.

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