Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Architecture
Little trace remains of the modest one-story adobe houses that sprang up along the mouth
of the Riachuelo following the second founding of Buenos Aires in 1580. Many of them
were occupied by traffickers of contraband, as the Spanish crown forbade any direct export
or import of goods from the settlement. The restrictions made the price of imported build-
ing materials prohibitively high, which kept things simple, architecturally speaking. For an
idea of how BA's first settlements used to be, visit El Zanjón de Granados (
Click here
) in
San Telmo.
Buenos Aires' Cabildo (
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)
is a fair example of colonial architecture, although
its once plaza-spanning colonnades were severely clipped by the construction of Av de
Mayo and the diagonals feeding into it. The last of the Cabildo's multiple remodels was a
1940s restoration to its original look, minus the colonnades. Most of the other survivors
from the colonial era are churches. Sharing Plaza de Mayo with the Cabildo, the Catedral
Metropolitana (
Click here
)
was begun in 1752 but not finished until 1852, by which time it
had acquired its rather secular-looking neoclassicist facade.
Many examples of postindependence architecture (built after 1810) can be found in the
barrios of San Telmo, one of the city's best walking areas, and Montserrat. San Telmo also
holds a wide variety of vernacular architecture such as
casas chorizos
(sausage houses) -
so called for their long, narrow shape (some have a 2m frontage on the street). The perfect
example is Casa Mínima (at San Lorenzo 380).
In the latter half of the 19th century, as Argentina's agricultural exports soared, a lot of
money accumulated in Buenos Aires, in both private and government hands. All parties
were interested in showing off their wealth by constructing elaborate mansions, public
buildings and wide Parisian-style boulevards. Buildings in the city in the first few decades
of the boom were constructed mostly in Italianate style, but toward the end of the 19th cen-
tury a French influence began to exert itself. Mansard roofs and other elements gave a
Parisian look to parts of the city, and by the beginning of the 20th century art nouveau was
all the rage.
Among the highlights of the building boom's first five decades is the presidential palace,
known as the Casa Rosada (
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)
, created in 1882 by joining a new wing to the exist-
ing post office. Others include the showpiece Teatro Colón (
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) and the imposing
Palacio del Congreso.
The 1920s saw the arrival of the skyscraper, in the form of the 100m-high, 18-story Pala-
cio Barolo (
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)
. This rocket-styled building was the tallest in Argentina (and one of
the tallest in South America) from its opening in 1923 until the completion of the 30-story
