Casa de los Jesuitas, San Cristóbal de La Laguna

Casa de los Jesuitas in San Cristóbal de La Laguna is an 18th-century building standing in the historic centre of this Tenerife town, tied closely to the early days of the island's university and still home today to a local learned society.

Who built this house, and when?

The Jesuits built the house between 1733 and 1737. It follows the stately Canarian residential style typical of the period, with an added layer of Baroque decorative touches that sets it apart from the plainer town houses around it. The building included an oratory, reached through a distinctive semicircular arch — that arch has survived to the present day and remains one of the few visible traces of the house's original religious purpose.

What happened after the Jesuits were expelled?

The building's fortunes changed abruptly in 1767, when King Carlos III ordered the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain's territories, including the Canary Islands. The vacated house did not stay empty for long: in 1777 it became the home of the Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País de Tenerife, a local society dedicated to the island's economic and scientific development. Within these same walls the Universidad de San Fernando held its first premises — the institution regarded as the historical seed of today's University of La Laguna. The university operated here until the mid-20th century, when it moved to a new, much larger central campus.

What's inside the building today?

Casa de los Jesuitas still serves as the headquarters of the Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País. Inside, it holds one of Tenerife's more significant historical archives, and its library preserves unique printed volumes dating from the Enlightenment — a genuinely important stop for historians and researchers, even though the building's plain exterior gives little away.

How do you find it, and where does it fit into a visit?

The house sits within the historic centre of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, a UNESCO World Heritage Site prized for its remarkably well-preserved colonial street grid. The simplest way to see it is on foot, as part of a walk through the old town: the grid of narrow, perpendicular streets lined with colourful façades and wooden balconies puts the former Jesuit house naturally on the route past the town's other historic buildings and churches.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you go inside Casa de los Jesuitas? The building is an active institutional headquarters rather than a conventional tourist attraction with set opening hours, so access to the interior can be limited. It's worth checking locally or contacting the Real Sociedad Económica directly to ask about visiting the archive or library.

Where does the name "Casa de los Jesuitas" come from? The name simply describes who built and first occupied the house — the Jesuit order, which raised the building in the first half of the 18th century and used it until its expulsion from the islands in 1767.

What's the building's connection to the University of La Laguna? These walls housed the first premises of the Universidad de San Fernando, the institution considered the historical starting point of today's University of La Laguna, before the university moved to its own campus in the mid-20th century.

What else is worth seeing nearby in the old town? Casa de los Jesuitas stands right in the middle of La Laguna's historic centre, so it fits naturally into a longer walk through the town's colonial-era streets, past numerous churches and historic houses from the same period.