Bien de Interés Cultural, with the category of Casco histórico, 2005.
The oldest buildings in this place, also known as El Lomo or “Lugar de Arriba”, date from before the foundation of the hamlet by Captain Juan González Gómez, among others (1590s). The previous huts and cave-houses, either natural or excavated, were the ones that gave shelter to the ancient settlements of Guanche origin, belonging to the so-called Menceyato de Abona, located in this Lugar de Chasna, probably due to the presence of water sources and prosperous farmland.
It was during the 1600s, at the same time as the first chapel was erected, that the hamlet began to consolidate as such, clustered around the chapel and linked by the old communication road between the coast and the summit, which reached the northernmost areas of the island.
It was then, throughout the 17th century, that houses of an austere character began to appear, with authentic traditional Canarian architecture, strongly conditioned by the old agricultural and livestock farming activity of the area. These were organised around a rectangular courtyard, sometimes paved, sometimes over a cistern, which could acquire a more intimate aspect by being adorned with splendid vegetation, or a more relaxed aspect by being completely open to the street, in the form of an alley. At its edge were the rooms dedicated to the kitchen, bedrooms and cellars. In the case of more modest houses, these were built on two floors, reserving the upper floor for the barn, which was reached by an exterior wooden staircase that ended in a simple balcony.
One of its main streets is Benítez de Lugo, which leads from the square and church itself to the old washing places and public water fountain (1964). It is dominated by earthen houses with lintelled doorways, cornices and local stone mouldings (Arico stone or chasnera). The roofs are usually of Arabic tile or roof tiles, although there are also buildings of dry stone and some of a slatted form. At the end of this street, we continue on to Calle del Calvario, where we find a small hermitage with a French tile gable roof, a stone arch at the entrance door and a mosaic floor. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
