José Luis Tasende Elementary School and Theater

Old Name: Teresian Mothers School for Girls

Address: Popular # 51 between Lope Recio and Padre Valencia

Construction Date: 1939 – 1957

Protection Degree: 1

Construction of this building began in 1939, on the site of the old “El Fénix” Theater, and was completed in 1957 as a school for girls of the Order of the Teresiana Mothers with a theater room.

It has three levels and the front and back have similar architectural details; however, the central area has modern features, different from the rest of the building.

The façade, with the school and theater entrances, is worked and decorated with floral figures. The carpentry used in the main doors hints at the romanticism of the time, with pointed shapes carved in the same wood.

Inside there are columns with Tuscan capitals that, when repeated, cause a pleasant rhythm. Due to all its decorative elements and the time in which it was built, it classifies within the eclectic style of the mid-20th century -although neo-Gothic codes stand out.

Through the Law of Nationalization of Education of June 1961, the Revolutionary Government converted the school, reserved for a sector of the population, into a public school with the corresponding access for children without distinction of class, race or religious belief. The theater room became an institution of the National Council of Culture.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García