No. 10194
Casa Salazar
Spain
PalaceRestored17th century
No. 55353
No. 55353 · 28.466 N, 16.282 W
Quick summary
San Joaquín Castle is a castle in Spain, listed as reference No. 55353.
San Joaquín Castle is a castle in Spain with origins associated with the 16th century.
See all castles in SpainSan Joaquín Castle stands in the municipality of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and was erected by Spanish authorities. The earliest recorded intervention at the site dates to 1586, when Governor D. Juan Núñez de la Fuente commissioned defensive platforms designed by Leonardo Torriani; those works were later abandoned and did not develop into a permanent stronghold. Nearly two centuries later construction of the present fort began in 1780, a project at the time described as the rebuilding or building of a castle intended to protect the island’s interior should coastal defenses be overcome.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries the building’s interior was altered repeatedly to serve changing needs. It functioned at various times as an ammunitions store, a dovecote and a military prison, and it was the headquarters for the Cuerpo de Colombofilia Militar Español, the military pigeon service; two of the corner towers were specifically used for gunpowder storage. The Ministry of National Education recorded the site on 22 April 1949. In 1996 the Ministry of Defence sold the property at public auction to a private individual, and on 15 February 2000 the castle was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural in the category Monument, a designation that included a decree setting its protected environs. The structure is currently abandoned.
Condition
The castle presents a compact square footprint with a round tower at each corner. The main building visible today dates from the late eighteenth-century work begun in 1780 and was laid out so the island’s interior could be defended if seaward positions fell. Externally its overall plan and silhouette have remained recognizable despite many alterations to the interior fabric.
A central open courtyard organizes the interior, with two side ranges of bays facing onto the courtyard; descriptions also record two parallel internal ranges separated by a central patio built on the castle’s esplanades. Over time those internal spaces were reconfigured to accommodate uses such as an ammunitions depot and a dovecote, and later to hold prisoners and to serve the military pigeon corps, leaving traces of repeated remodelling. Each corner tower is a circular, drum-like structure and two of these towers were documented as stores for gunpowder. The exterior massing and general arrangement of towers and court survive in the landscape, while the inner partitions and finishes show extensive alteration from their many reuses. The complex sits in the Villa Benítez neighborhood near the Mirador de Vistabella on the road between Santa Cruz de Tenerife and San Cristóbal de La Laguna. Today the structure is practically in ruins and lies abandoned.
Location
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