Casa Mascareño, located in the Buenavista neighborhood, between Doctor Salvador Pérez and Fermín Morín streets, next to the Health Center on Venezuela Avenue, was built in 1935 by Carmelo Mascareño in the middle of his banana plantation.
The house with two floors and a semi-basement is considered the masterpiece of the architect José Blasco Robles (Almería, 1904 – Madrid, 1986), since the aesthetics of the building constitute a clear example of rationalist domestic architecture, based on a hitherto unknown simplicity that it kept an order in the distribution of the lines, where nothing was superfluous and everything had its meaning and utility, since it rejected any element that came from the classic scheme such as cornices, balustrades, columns, pediments, etc.
The materials used in its structure, in the pillars and in the flat roof are reinforced concrete, while using prefabricated blocks in the walls since they offered greater resistance capacity, openness in interior spaces and ease of construction. In addition, it used metallic carpentry, folding shutters on the windows, different models of flooring in each of the rooms and a variety of tiles in the bathrooms.
Inside the building, the existing articulation between the hall and the dining room stands out, two connected, free spaces, which are accessed from the entrance (without a vestibule).
Blasco Robles would create a building adapted to the climate of the islands with the correct orientation of the rooms and the location of the main door on the west or west façade, under a small entrance porch that is accessed by saving a drop of five steps.
In addition, the two large windows on the ground floor, which correspond to the living room and the dining room, are located in the north and south corners, while the two windows on the upper floor, which belong to the bedrooms, one of them is also located in the south corner. The terrace develops over the slab of the ground floor, providing it with a cantilever supported by metal braces.
The international organization Docomomo, which studies the most outstanding contemporary architectural works in Europe, has considered it one of the main Spanish pieces of rationalist style.
Rehabilitation
When in 1980 the Mascareño heirs sold the estate to the Canarias de Edificaciones company, it would be acquired by the City Council. From this moment the house would begin to suffer an alarming deterioration, as it was converted into a warehouse for an adjoining work, where all kinds of utensils and tools were deposited, as well as a homeless shelter, causing a fire to occur on the second floor, due to to the burning of a mattress.
These events would lead to it being declared in a state of abandonment, since the only thing that remained standing were its structural elements, since the rest had been looted by the friends of the alien.
Due to repeated complaints from residents, the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council proceeded to seal the gaps in the windows and doors and paint the ground floor of the building.
In 2019, the Capital City Council put out to tender the integral rehabilitation of the Casa Mascareño in order to achieve an urban cultural action center for the young people of the Salud-La Salle district.
To integrate it for public use, it was necessary to achieve larger spaces than the original rooms had, extend the main staircase to the basement and place an elevator to the third floor, to comply with accessibility regulations. The gardens that occupy the exterior space have also been conditioned.
This Youth House, located in the center of the Buenavista neighborhood, has multipurpose areas, computer rooms, classrooms for workshops, spaces for rehearsals, musical recordings or dances… All the rooms are equipped with equipment in accordance with the purpose of its use.
