LAS PALMAS tes guerras hicieron que quedara en un cajón, “hasta que, en 1952, reabrió, reinterpretando el estilo colonial canario y con toques racionalistas propios de La Bauhaus, ya que el hotel está en el barrio Ciudad Jardín, que seguía los principios de esa escuela”. Protegido como Monumento Nacional, el Santa Catalina sigue siendo testigo de la vida de la ciudad, acogiendo a via- jeros y curiosos que pasean por sus salones con exclusivas lámparas de Murano o por la frescura de esos jardines que aún guardan la impronta de Alfonso XIII, María Callas, Ava Gardner, Neil Armstrong y otros ilustres nombres que han habitado su más de un siglo de historia. ENG One only has to immerse oneself in the atmosphere of the architectural spaces to understand the sights they have borne witness to throughout their history. To enter the Gran Hotel Santa Catalina is to enter an elegant accommodation; it is also to step into the soul of the city that hosts it, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Opened in 1890, in its early days it was a silent witness to the colonial era that encouraged travellers to undertake long journeys to discover other worlds, becoming a luxury meeting point on a par with its globetrotting visitors. The architect James McLaren carried out the project, based on a mixture of styles ‘that paid homage to nearby Africa and also to the East,’ says Manuel Ramos Almenara, of the Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country of Gran Canaria. The First World War and the subsequent debacle meant that the Santa Catalina closed its doors, abandoned as a ware- house for agricultural products. ‘In 1931, the Town Hall bought the building,’ says Ramos. ‘That’s why the people of Las Palmas have always felt it was a little bit theirs.’ A new refurbishment was planned, but the vicissitudes of the following wars meant that it was left on the back burner, ‘until, in 1952, it reopened, reinterpreting the Canarian colonial style and with rational- ist touches typical of the Bauhaus, as the hotel is in the Ciudad Jardín neighbourhood, which followed the principles of that school’. Protected as a National Monument, the Santa Catalina continues to bear witness to city life, welcoming travellers and the curious who stroll through its halls with their exclu- sive Murano lamps or through the freshness of its gardens that still bear the mark of Alfonso XIII, Maria Callas, Ava Gardner, Neil Armstrong and other illustrious names that have inhabited its more than a century of history. Imágenes: Archivo de fotografía histórica de Canarias. Fedac/Cabildo de Gran Canaria. Foto Neil Armstrong, cedida por el archivo fotográfico de La Provincia-Diario de Las Palmas. Fotos actuales: Cortesía de Gran Hotel Santa Catalina (Royal Hideaway Luxury Hotels & Resorts). El Santa Catalina ha sabido respetar su arquitectura, sumando elementos contemporáneos. // The Santa Catalina has managed to respect its architecture, adding contemporary elements.