Main Hall

The headquarters of the Real Casino de Tenerife is a unique building for several reasons, among them, for housing a prestigious socio-cultural institution that dates back to 1840 and therefore celebrates 180 years of existence,  also  by its location, occupying the best block in the main square of the city and by the construction itself, with an exterior appearance in an eclectic style of classicist order and by  a more modern character in its most significant interior spaces, in a more modern and  style that has been called rationalist or functionalist, a style that was against superfluous decorations and defended, as a motto, that form follows function.

The current building originates in a process of design and construction that took place between 1929 and 1935, was carried out by the Gran Canarian architect Miguel Martin Fernandez de la Torre (1894-1980), a leading figure and capital in the development of Canarian architecture and author also of the construction of the Real Club Nautico de Tenerife.

The current Casino building was built in phases, with some parts coming into use while others were being built and with a project that was modified, since the initial project of 1929 was replaced by another in 1931.

The building occupies a complete block and is organized with four courtyards on the perimeter  of the central space, where the hall and the party room are located, both areas of double height  and which are the most representative rooms of the complex.

On the outside of the building, the corners are emphasized, responding in general to a pseudo-secessionist style with strong classicist manifestation in balconies with Doric colonnades on the two main facades.

The organization of the building, both in its functionality and in its external manifestation with towers, colonnades and resources of all kinds, is outstanding.  formalization and interior decoration, in the rationalist aesthetics, of the most significant spaces and that responds to a set  of plans drawn up by the  German architect Richard E. Oppel (1887-1960), an architect who joined Miguel Martin’s studio in July 1932, and later became his brother-in-law. This set of plans, dated  May  1933, and what was executed according to them, were logically commissioned and arranged by Miguel Martin, although as can be seen in the relation of what was drawn and what was executed, Oppel was free to develop his strong design personality.

In 1933, the definitive project had already been formalized since 1931, and most of the building’s  main construction work had already been completed. Oppel’s work consisted of designing the interiors of the main areas  and the entrance to the building.

These drawings, characteristically Oppelian, are valuable in their own right, and they develop  the different elements,  from the cover,  which already introduces a differentiating language in the facade, to the interior through the great hall, as a hall-distributor, where the magnificent main staircase starts, which will lead,  and ventilated from the light wells, to be reached, once the  mezzanine, the level of the large party room, this space, which was illuminated and ventilated both laterally and zenithally. Today these conditions have been  modified due to the construction of a new floor on the roof.

The large hall is a strategic space, used as a meeting room, communications distributor, stairs and elevators,  with a fountain and an attractive  mural by the Gomeran painter José  Aguiar (1895-1976).

The staircase leads to the mezzanine as a space that surrounds the double height of the hall, volumetrically enriching the whole, but before that, on a landing of the staircase, there is a fascinating access to an assembly hall.

This access is a plastic delicacy with its subtle walls of semi-curved light fixtures,  which corset the small area of passage to the lounges, and which was executed as shown in the plans.