The oldest is the Map of the City of La Laguna from 1814, an anonymous work preserved in the archives of the Royal Society of Friends of the Country of Tenerife. Given the secondary interest this area held for the authors of these maps, its location and elongated rectangular shape are hardly noticeable, much like the map from 1855 by the prebendary Antonio Pereira y Ruiz. In the topographic map by Marcial M. Velázquez from 1885, although our property is not illustrated, a large agricultural space surrounding the urban core of the city is clearly observed, along with the existence of some buildings linked to the activity, such as warehouses, labourers’ cottages, or terraced houses.
When the Pilgrimage in honour of San Benito began its modern journey, this large house offered us beautiful images, of great historical and ethnographic value. At that time, it was adorned by the López family, featuring farming tools, strings of onions, and other seasonal horticultural products that were still being produced in the agricultural lands of the area. Folk music bands and carts of pilgrims were a common resource for photographers to immortalise its beautiful façade.
