Housing in Duggi for the Sociedad Constructora de Edificaciones El Progreso

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 1904 · Authors: Antonio Pintor y Ocete

The Sociedad de Construcciones Económicas El Progreso was created in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on 4 July 1894 with the aim of trying to alleviate the housing shortage among the working class. Its idea, somewhere between philanthropic and commercial, was to carry out new developments of cheap houses in the city's most popular neighbourhoods.    

The Constructora began working in the Duggi neighbourhood around 1900, delimiting the new plots through complicated cuttings and levellings, given the numerous irregularities presented by a terrain abundant in escarpments, hence the popular name by which the area was known for a long time: "El Monturrio".

The construction models that El Progreso wanted to apply in Duggi were similar to those successfully tested a few years earlier in the El Toscal neighbourhood; although here it was intended to urbanise by means of somewhat more sophisticated and experimental standards. 

In the block between Álvarez de Lugo, El Progreso and Duggi streets, four houses were built in 1904, under the plans of architect Antonio Pintor (today only three remain), each provided with a small front garden. As we can see, the façades are stripped of any superfluous element that could increase the cost of construction. Inside, the front half of the building is intended for the living rooms, leaving the rear part for the patio with the services and kitchen.

This group of houses has remained in the area as an example of a failed proposal to create a modest garden city in an environment that was not linked to the wealthier classes of Santa Cruz society.

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