History
First steps
The Jofre de Ferrol theater was originally linked to the city's Hospital de la Caridad, both in its architectural aspects and in its management, since the charitable institution used the proceeds to finance its work. The first steps for the construction of the Jofre Theater were taken by Vicente Reguera Quiroga in 1862, when he created a public limited company to which some influential residents subscribed, including Justo Gayoso, former mayor of Ferrol and a member of the Hospital Governing Board. of the charity. Gayoso was also part of the Commission that drew up the rules for the construction of the future theater and the Regulations of the Administrative Board, whose first action was to find a site and draw up the plans. To do this, a piece of land was acquired in the La Magdalena neighborhood and the provincial architect Faustino Domínguez Domínguez was asked to prepare a project, which, however, ended up being rejected as being excessively expensive due to its luxury and monumentality. In 1871, the new plans for the theater were approved, presented by the municipal architect Marcelino Sors Martínez, which cut the width of the building, leaving a space on one side where it was intended to build a semi-detached property for independent use. The official inauguration of the works took place on January 1, 1872 with the laying of the first stone by the mayor, with the presence of local authorities and representatives of the Board of the Hospital de la Caridad.
Work stoppage
In September 1874, due to the lack of funds, the works were paralyzed and in 1878 the City Council decided to contribute funds in exchange for the annexed lot and its participation in the board of directors. A year later, the Navy engineer Andrés Avelino Comerma, temporarily substitutes Sors who has resigned, and undertakes a reformed project that lowered costs. The work continued with the help of the municipal architect of Ferrol, Patricio de Bolomburu and Latur, although, due to the financial problems of the City Council, the work stopped again. In 1880 Bolomburu resigned his position in Ferrol.
Completion of the theater
In order to finish the construction of the theater, in 1884 a public limited company was formed , "Construction company of a theater in the city of Ferrol", which decided to leave the completion of the enclosure in the hands of a private individual. In 1889, Joaquín Jofre y Maristany, an enriched Ferrolano in Argentina, decided to subscribe to shares in the construction company and promised to send the necessary contributions to finish the theater, which will be returned with the first benefits. In gratitude, the City Council resolved to return to society the site adjacent to the theater and that it be named after its benefactor. In 1892, due to the crisis in the Argentine Republic of 1890, the Jofre family could not continue sending the promised money, so that same year the commitment in public deed was annulled and the works were stopped again. However, as what remained to finish the theater was not much, a loan arrived "in extremis", by which the venue and its belongings were mortgaged, allowed the final conclusion of the works. On May 19, 1892, the Jofre theater was inaugurated with the representation of the play El alcalde de Zalamea by the Antonio Vico company and comedic entertainment in an act by Vital Aza The Golden Dream . The construction of the stretch was commissioned in 1889 to the machinist and architect Egidio Piccoli, and the ornamentation of the room to the set designer Giorgio Busato and the painter Bernardo Bonardi .
In 1919 the governing board of the Hospital de la Caridad decided to sell the theater, of which it was its main shareholder, acquiring it Isaac Fraga Penedo who decided to modify the façade. Although the interior of the theater was elegantly ornamented, its sober exterior made the building less representative, so in 1921 the project commissioned by the municipal architect Rodolfo Ucha Piñeiro was executed, which would provide it with a new façade with modernist and eclectic features , adding a porch with theatrical masks and leaning between the hollow giant pilasters that span the height of the façade from the first floor, finishing it off with pinnacles. 5Ucha Piñeiro himself would also project the remodeling of the square in front of the theater.
Finally, after a period of consecutive renovations that were disfiguring its interior decoration, in 1994 the Ferrol City Council, with the collaboration of the La Coruña Provincial Council and the Xunta de Galicia , acquired the building for restoration. On December 5, 2001, the theater rehabilitation works began. Once the works were finished, directed by the architect Rafael Baltar and with a budget of more than 4 million euros, it reopened its doors in December 2005.
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