The process by which Las Palmas de Gran Canaria grew into a key city in the Mid-Atlantic can be traced directly to the turn of the twentieth century. It was the project to develop the Port of La Luz and of Las Palmas, which began to be built in 1883, that established the trend of expansion of the city from its old nucleus — the foundational district of Vegueta — and the modernist area defined by the Calle Mayor in Triana and its surroundings. It was in this period that the capital of Gran Canaria was planned with the aim of extending its urban fabric along the coast towards La Luz, and in parallel in its internal spaces.

That was when the idea arose of extending the city centre in the Triana-Port direction, in the setting generated in the mid-nineteenth century by the expansion that took place outside the original city wall, which maintained that urban development boundary in what is now Calle Bravo Murillo. It was a decree issued in 1908 by the City Council of Las Palmas (the city did not acquire its present surname, “de Gran Canaria”, until 1940) that restricted the usual construction of traditional single-storey houses in favour of buildings with two or three floors in the area.

This architectural morphology, with several floors, had already become common in the Triana district, for example. By that time, new housing was needed in the city centre, to suit the tastes and needs of a flourishing middle class and a vibrant bourgeoisie, which had prospered thanks to the economic impact of the new Port and the business and maritime trade links established with the United Kingdom from Gran Canaria, among other things.
An Urban Plan drawn up by the municipal architect Laureano Arroyo between 1892 and 1898 already envisaged extending the current Calle Viera y Clavijo outside the development area to the Ciudad Jardín district. With the new urban planning regulations, at the beginning of the twentieth century, what is now Calle Perojo was perfectly organised and ready for the construction of buildings to begin. However, the original plan was never approved, against a background in which conflicts of interest finally emerged between the numerous owners with plots of land in the affected area. It soon became clear that the reality of the city would not allow Perojo to expand much beyond the current Plaza de la Feria, more than halfway along the original route planned for it from the Triana area.

So Calle Bravo Murillo, at one end, and the Plazoleta Padre Hilario, at the other, were established in practice as the limits of the current Calle Perojo, which did begin to be built according to its original objectives: that is, to expand the centre towards the Port, offering living space for an emerging local population.

The buildings that began to make up the current image of Perojo soon acquired the imprint with which they continue to dazzle us today, in what is undoubtedly one of the streets with the greatest charm and the strongest architectural personality in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Like the Calle Mayor in Triana, Perojo merges elements of different schools, but above all, it exudes a captivating modernist style, both in its structures and design and in the colouring of its façades.

It should be mentioned that the street owes its name to a Cuban-born Spanish journalist named José Perojo y Figueras, who was a liberal member of parliament for Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 1905 and 1907. Associated with the regenerationism of that period, he became a significant figure in the politics of the time for his defence of the interests of the Canary Islands. Perojo died in Madrid in 1908, and on the first anniversary of his death, it was decided that the city should name one of its streets in his memory.

Most of the buildings in the street are residential and fall into two different types. On the one hand, there are those with one dwelling per floor and two different entrance halls. On the other, several buildings were designed for socialising in their inner courtyards, with the various lodgings and rooms arranged in a circular sequence around it. Originally, storerooms and even workshops were also provided on the ground floor of some buildings, integrated into their original architectural design.

This conception of Perojo has made it possible for the street to present a lively appearance today, with shops, bars and restaurants occupying those spaces on the ground floor. Architects such as Fernando Navarro (whose family home was in this same street), Rafael Masanet and Laureano Arroyo himself designed several buildings in the street, which has been declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) in the Historical Site category. Its doorways, balconies, balustrades and the uniform layout of the floors in its colourful façades, in general, make it one of the city’s heritage treasures.