Casa de La Alhóndiga - La Laguna

Built between 1705 and 1709, as indicated by the inscription on the facade, “reigning Philip V...”.

The facade was renovated in the mid-19th century in a neoclassical style, with a large stone cornice and a triangular pediment on the parapet that conceals the roof. The project was dedicated to the architect Manuel de Oraá, with the intention of converting the building into a theater. It currently houses municipal offices and part of the structure of the original building may still be visible inside.

The alhóndiga was where the poorest neighbors were supplied, where they were loaned wheat if they could not buy it or where they were sold kneaded bread at a price lower than the market price in times of hardship. It also supplied wheat seed to farmers, both for their own land and for land they leased from the Cabildo. It housed the warehouses of the Cabildo, mainly for the surpluses of the harvests, but it also had the administrative and control offices for various economic activities on

It has also had other destinations. It was a prison during the Civil War (1809), district court, military barracks and inn . In the 20th century it housed the Guardia Civil, barracks for the Machine Gun Company, a hospital during the 1918 flu, a school and a courthouse.

Willem Vandenameele