The Masonic Temple of Santa Cruz de Tenerife will be declared a Place of Democratic Memory. This was stated on 26 February 2025 by the Minister for Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres.
On 8 August 1895, the Añaza Lodge was founded, helping to shape Freemasonry in the Canary Islands in the first third of the 20th century.
It was under his impetus that a building designed as a Masonic temple was built between 1899 and 1902, based on a project by the municipal architect Manuel de Cámara. Funding was provided by the lodge. However, the work, including the façade, was not completed until 1923. The building was also used as a free school, financed by the lodge.
On 15 September 1936, following the coup d’état, the ‘Añaza’ lodge was dissolved and its property confiscated. As soon as General Franco issued his first anti-masonic decree, the building was requisitioned and handed over to the Spanish phalanx. Part of the building became a military pharmacy, while another part was used as barracks for the regime’s soldiers until 1990. It was closed in 1990 until the return of democracy to Spain, when the State sold the building to the town of Santa Cruz in 2001 for the sum of 470,000 euros.
In 2016, the building is awaiting restoration and rehabilitation to restore the partial destruction suffered during the Franco period. It has been declared a building of cultural interest in the historic monument category, and is one of the finest examples of a Spanish Masonic building. In 2023, as part of a wide-ranging renovation plan for the city’s architectural heritage, the Masonic temple was awarded a grant of three million euros. The aim of the work is to transform the temple into a museum and conference centre, with a completion date scheduled for 2025.