Puerto de la Cruz local government has belatedly woken up to the fact that one of the few historical buildings left in its town deserves to be treated with respect.
200 hundred-year-old Casa Iriarte, a small maritime museum with artesania shops inside, has sat for years in the middle of Puerto slowly but surely deteriorating, following an all too prevalent pattern in local governments all over Tenerife to take the lucrative way out by destroying rather than preserving its history and culture, to make way for more modern money-spinning ventures.
This large building is a perfect example of traditional Canary architecture, built on two floors and joined together with Casa Ventosa, its tower, Casa Reimers, the actual house where, during the 18th century the Iriarte brothers were born and lived and who came to prominence through their literary and political works of the period, and the birthplace of Álvarez Rixo (Casa de los Hernández).
The architecture is very representative of the 'Golden era of Puerto de la Cruz (XVIII) when the town established itself as a commercial centre, becoming home to rich Spanish merchants as well as the many foreign companies such as Fyffes who also established their businesses there.
It is the first building to be completed under 'Plan de Choque Turístico' which started in December 2008, implemented to improve the façades of 12 historical buildings built between the 17th and 20th centuries throughout the streets of Puerto de la Cruz: (San Felipe, Pérez Zamora, San Juan, Iriarte, Agustín de Betancourt, Luís de la Cruz, Blanco, Quintana, Zamora and Santo Domingo). Works are to include damp-proofing, carpentry and metalworks, structural repairs, electrical works to outside lighting etc., in a push to bring each building back to its original and pristine condition.
Within this plan and underway at the moment is the renovation of paseo de Las Damas (above), next to Teconma, and the popular camino de Las Cabras (left), antiguo Camino Real, a vital pedestrian walkway connecting the Martiánez area with La Paz.
Even though the present plan must completed within six months, it could possibly be enlarged by two more phases to include the refurbishment of as many historical buildings as possible in order to bring Puerto back on to the tourist map by qualifying it as a town of cultural, historical and hereditary interest as well as just a holiday resort.
