The Cabildo aims to restore the historic Baudet theatre and cinema, situated in Santa Cruz (within a building on Islas Canarias Avenue) and owned by the Island Corporation since 1999. An investment of 1.853 million euros will be made during the first phase, which involves carrying out repairs and strengthening work on the roof above the main hall of the vintage cinema and its supporting columns, as detailed by the island’s Minister for Culture and Museums, José Carlos Acha.
This project has already been made available for public scrutiny for a period of 20 days by the Cabildo, after which it will receive final approval if no objections are raised, as reported yesterday in the BOP.
The minister indicated that the state of the theatre-cinema’s roof is significantly compromised, featuring openings that allow “rain, pigeons, wind to penetrate… which has also led to the deterioration of the lower floors.” He stressed, “The current action is crucial to prevent further degradation and ensure the preservation of the building.” Once the project has been finally approved, the subsequent step will be to issue tenders for the works within this year, which will require an investment of 1.8 million euros and have a projected completion timeframe of 14 months, Acha explained.
For the following phase, after this work is completed, “we need to develop a plan for the theatre’s utilisation, to determine precisely for what purposes we will employ it,” he said. From there, the drafting of the project for restoring the rooms and spaces will be put out to tender. The minister noted that the Cabildo would like the venue to serve multipurpose functions, featuring a spacious area for exhibitions, conferences, performances, and smaller meeting rooms. “This represents a significant second phase, but without first repairing the roof, we cannot proceed,” he underlined.
Town Hall Bookstore
Within the same building that houses the theatre, there was also a site for the Cabildo Bookstore, which has remained closed since 2020. José Carlos Acha announced that efforts are underway to reopen it this year: “It is situated in a section of the building that does not have any issues, the bookstore’s collections have been sorted and catalogued, and we aim to reactivate it throughout this year.” Above the bookstore, located at one end of the building’s façade, there are two private residences, alongside two more at the opposite end, all of which are in satisfactory condition, he remarked.
