Reader solves Puerto del Carmen building mystery

In our August magazine we printed Terry and Carol Coates’s appeal for information about the building opposite the San Antonio hotel in Puerto del Carmen.

Rodney Barr, a Lanzarote resident for over 50 years, contacted us to tell us that he worked at the hotel in the 1970s and that the building in question housed the Hotel San Antonio’s power generator and water desalination plant.

At that time, power and fresh water supplies from Arrecife were unreliable or non-existent, and as a result the large hotels had their own facilities. The building was designed in a Canarian style, with traditional chimneys and balconies.

Rodney also told us how the Hotel San Antonio also invested in accommodation for its workers, in contrast to more recent hotels on the island. A large building that is still visible on C/ Libertad in Tías was provided to house the staff of the hotel.