Rehabilitate the historic Casona de La Gorvoranain Los Realejos, will cost more than 8.2 million euros. He Royal Town Hall presented this Wednesday, June 28, 2023, the technical project that will make it possible to recover for cultural use, and as a tourist attraction, a building whose origins date back to the 16th century and which currently presents a high degree of deterioration, with some areas demolished and others propped up. The royal mayor, Adolfo González (PP)recognized that avoiding the disappearance of this property and reopening it for public use will be one of the great objectives of the mandate that begins, for which it will try to achieve the essential financial support both the Canarian Government and the Island Council.
Adolfo Gonzalez He delayed the presentation of this project for a few weeks so that “it would not be related to an electoral promise”, but he no longer wants to waste any more time and announces that he will work so that island and regional support is reflected in the 2024 budgets. He said that his government has been discreet in preparing the project to “not create false expectations” or give dates that could not be met later.
González was accompanied in the presentation by the architect Fernando Arocha, who acted as spokesperson for the drafting team of this rehabilitation, conservation, consolidation and restoration project. The jobs are awarded for 101,650 eurosan amount co-financed between City Hall of Los Realejos and Cabildo de Tenerife, which has allowed a detailed study of the current situation of the property. A topographical survey was even prepared “with a millimeter study in detail of the farm and all its elements, with advanced technologies such as the 3D scanner», and an intervention proposal that adapts the proposed uses to the characteristics of this historic house, without altering its essence.
The project is articulated around a large multipurpose patio of 750 square meters. In the dependencies of this great hacienda there will be two large exhibition halls of 464 square meters; a conference room with capacity for one hundred people; classrooms for artistic courses or workshops; three rooms equipped for the overnight stay of up to six guests, teachers, artists or speakers; a cafeteria in the old farmhouse; Offices; box office; warehouses, and a new building, under an existing terrace, in which the toilets, facilities and services of the entire house will be located. This last building will require an investment of 258,000 euros.
The editorial team was made up of Fernando Arocha Ferreiro, Carlos Arocha Isidro, Pedro Domínguez Anadón and Deiene González Uriartewho are the authors of a document with 2,400 pages, in which local historians, wood experts, landscapers, botanists or restorers specialized in paintings have also participated, such as those who are already working on the recovery of the frescoes that a young Francisco Bonnín painted in a room of this mansion. These frescoes have been removed from the walls and will be restored in a specialized workshop before being placed back in their original location. Some of the rooms will also pay homage to key people in the history of this hacienda, such as Juana Grimón, Agustín de Bustamante or Matías de Gálvezamong others.
Its origin dates back to the 16th century.
The origins of the Hacienda de La Gorvorana go back to the first years after the conquest of Tenerife, which ended in 1496. Its name is due to Captain Francisco de Gorvalán, one of the conquerors who benefited from the distribution of land between 1506 and 1509, although he soon went to the peninsula and did not take up residence on the island. Its land became the property of the Grimón family, headed by the conquistador Jorge El Borgoñón, at least since 1540. Over the centuries it changed hands and crops, since it knew the three main ones in the history of the Canary Islands: sugar cane, with a sugar mill recognized in 1594; the vineyard, and finally the banana plantation, until its abandonment in 1999. Since 2001 it has belonged to the Los Realejos City Council.
The authors of the project, which is ready to go out to tender as soon as the budget is available, did not start from scratch, since the Realejero City Council had previously carried out a process of citizen participation and received contributions from students and teachers from the European University of the Canary Islands (UEC) and of the College of Architects of Tenerife. However, they encountered significant difficulties due to the poor state of conservation of the building, with some areas at risk of collapse that have already been propped up.
The mayor is confident that he will find understanding and support both in the Tenerife Council and in the Government of the Canary Islandswhere the former mayor realejero Manuel Dominguez (PP) will be vice president His goal is that this project can be financed “in three annuities” and he is confident that it will have a shared financial record in the 2024 accounts.
€8.2 million
The budget for execution by contract is established in the project at 8,227,687 euros, of the 1,143,000 euros will be used solely for restoration work on elements.
