UNIQUE EDIFICES
The first Salazar family member to settle in La Laguna was Don Cristóbal Salazar de Frías (born in Lisbon in 1571), the son of Don Ventura de Frías Salazar and Doña María de Miranda Becerril. He arrived in Tenerife after serving in the Flanders Tercios. He passed away in La Laguna in 1655 and was interred in the Church of San Agustín.
Among his many roles, he served as the Captain of the Provincial Militia Tercio of La Laguna, founding and becoming the first Prioste of the Brotherhood of Jesús Nazareno (a statue he brought from Lisbon) and joining the Order of Calatrava in 1623.
ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES OF THE PALACE HOUSE
This building comprises two floors. The second floor includes a pair of towers that cap both ends of the façade. The house encloses a central courtyard bordered by three galleries that lead to various rooms. The ground floor features Corinthian-style stone pillars on elegant bases with a diamond pattern. The upper floor, accessible via a main staircase with three stone sections, is constructed with whitewashed volcanic tuff, adorned with large glazed sliding windows.
The entire edifice is enveloped in a construction typical of its era, resembling the Nava Palace, making it one of the most iconic landmarks in the City and the Islands. Noteworthy are its stone façade, windows, balconies, and railings. The pinnacle displays a marble coat of arms of the Salazar family.
Don Cristóbal initiated the construction of his Palace House on San Agustín Street. He established two hereditary estates, one inherited by his son Ventura (El Sauzal, 1601 – Santa Cruz de La Palma, 1664), who served the King in Italy at the tender age of 14. He was captured by the Turks and only retrieved after his father paid over 3,000 escudos.
The second estate was passed down to his other son, also named Don Cristóbal Salazar de Frías (born in Madrid in 1603, passed away in La Laguna in 1677). After serving the King in Flanders, he arrived in Gran Canaria in 1625 as an Infantry Captain and later, in 1630, in La Laguna as the Field Master of the City Tercio.
Don Cristóbal’s two sons took part in the defence of Tenerife during the siege by Admiral Blake in 1659.
Don Cristóbal Salazar de Frías (the son) held the position of Knight of the Order of Santiago, Contraband Judge, Chief Constable of the Inquisition, and Butler of the Dolores Hospital. He continued the construction of the Palace House. Records show that the courtyard columns were crafted by Juan de Cabrexas and the five patio doors by Manuel de Farias, although they were stalled until he promised to complete them accurately.
Don Cristóbal had three sons, one of whom, named Antonio, tragically fell victim to a deceitful murder at the age of 19 on September 17, 1667, during the Festival of Christ, in a duel with his supposed friend Martín de Ascanio y Correa de Benavides. Antonio challenged Martín after noticing a ring he had given to a lady in Martín’s possession. The duel took place on the La Laguna plain, behind the Convent of San Francisco.
Youthful Antonio (whose image is published here for the first time) emerged victorious in the duel, with Martín conceding by handing over the ring. However, as Antonio lent a hand to help Martín up, the latter drew a dagger and fatally wounded him.
The murderer sought refuge in the Franciscan convent and stayed there until his end, as Don Cristóbal Salazar de Frías, Antonio’s father, initiated a family lawsuit leading to Martín’s death sentence.
The youngest of the children, as the eldest passed away in childhood, named Don Cristóbal Lázaro Salazar de Frías, was born in La Laguna in 1645. He served as the Captain of the Third Militia of La Laguna, a knight of the Order of Calatrava, and appointed the first Count of the Salazar Valley by King Carlos II on December 28, 1681. He contributed to the completion of the Hermitage of San Diego del Monte and the construction of the Colegio de Santa Rosa de Lima. He purchased the chapel of the Name of Jesus in the Church of San Agustín. To finalize the Palace House construction, in 1681, he engaged stonemasons Juan Lizcano and Andrés Rodríguez Bello for two years to build the façade using stones extracted from the Pedro Álvarez quarries, according to the design by master carpenter Juan González de Castro Illada.
BISHOP’S RESIDENCE
In 1892, Don Ramón Torrijos Gómez, the IV Bishop of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, acquired the Salazar Palace House to serve as the Episcopal Residence, a facility lacking in the Diocese. Previously, the Palace had been occupied by the “El Porvenir” Casino, the headquarters of the La Fe Music Band. According to tradition, the Tenerife musician Teobaldo Power composed part of Los Cantos Canarios in this location.
A fire ravaged the interior of the Episcopal Palace on the morning of January 23, 2006. Fortunately, the façade withstood the flames.
