Building in Avenida Belgrano, Buenos Aires

Avenida Belgrano, Buenos Aires

Building, San Telmo

You can find deco in the backstreets of San Telmo if you can drag yourself away from the Sunday market in Plaza Dorrego. This commercial building, probably with residential quarters on the second floor, is in a street called Bolivar.

Edificio Kavanagh, Buenos Aires

This is a somewhat deceptive view of Edifcio Kavanagh in Buenos Aires and not just because it appears to be surrounded by trees. This view shows the top of the building so you don't get a sense of the bulk of the building. This is a very large building.

This view shows some of that bulk but in a a way overstates it.

As you can see here, the building is very narrow near the top while the lower floors are actually in the shape of a 'V' with a car park and service area in the back.

Edificio Kavanagh is rightly the most well-known Art Deco building in Buenos Aires. It was designed by architects, Sanchez, Lagos and de la Torre and was built 1934-36.

References:
Edificio Kavanagh, Emporis.com

620-622 Calle Florida, Buenos Aires

I find this an interesting building. It is at 620-622 Calle Florida, Buenos Aires and to my eye looks a bit Art Deco and a bit Art Nouveau. Let's start at the series of windows along the roofline. Their stepped tops are a bit deco. The zig-zag band below them is also a bit deco as is the arrangement of three squares on the façade of the central section. The decorative element looks formal, a bit nouveau yet the background of that particular element looks geometric and stepped, a bit deco.

A bit further down the semi-circular forms step down in size and adhere to the deco rule of three but they are still a bit nouveau and the first set of balconies below that have a curly nouveau question mark incorporated into the metalwork.

The balconies below that are quite nouveau (note that a few have been cut through to allow for air conditioners) but the balconies below that are, I would say, a bit deco.

Then we come to the pyramidal shapes at the base of the columns between the windows on the first floor. Are they a bit deco or a bit nouveau? I can't make up my mind.

Finally we come to the entrance. The stepping above the entrance is a bit deco as is the metalwork of the security gates and the window above them but the decoration above the doorway is certainly a bit nouveau.

An interesting building.

Sunburst Leadlight Window, Recoleta Cemetery

Cine Monumental, Buenos Aires

The Cine Monumental is Buenos Aires dates from 1931 and has some lovely deco details.

Templo Metodista, Buenos Aires

As we walked down Avenida Rivadavia in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires this was the first inkling that there was an interesting building ahead. Or should I say another interesting building because BA is chock-a-block with interesting buildings especially from the Art Nouveau and Art Deco eras.

As we drew level, we could see it was a church, the Templo Metodista as it turns out.

The church dates from around 1930 and was designed by Phillip Massey.

Reference:
Buenos Aires Art Déco y Racionalismo, Mimi Böhn (text: Fabio Grementieri, photos: Xavier Verstraeten)

Abasto Shopping, Buenos Aires

If you read yesterday's post about La Bombonera, Boca Junior's stadium, then these names should be familiar to you. José Luis Delpini, Viktor Sulčič & Raúl Bes were the architectural team who designed that stadium and here we find there names, in Argentian tradition, inscribed on the wall of another of their large Buenos Aires projects, the former Abasto Market.

The original market opened in 1893 and this building was built between 1931 and 1934. Today it is a modern shopping centre reopening as Abasto Shopping in 1999 after the old fruit & vegetable market had closed in 1984.

References:
Abasto de Buenos Aires, wikipedia.com

La Bombonera, La Boca

This is the home stadium of Boca Juniors, arguable the most famous football club in Argentina. Officially it is called Estadio Alberto J. Armando after a former President of the club but is universally known as La Bombonera, The Chocolate Box, because of its unusual shape with one flat stand and tiered stands around the other three sides.

It was designed by architects Viktor Sulčič, José Luis Delpini and Raúl Bes with construction commencing in Feb 1938 and the first match being played in May 1940. A third tier was added between 1949 and 1953. Major renovation were completed between 1995 and 1996.

You'll notice the Coca Cola signs around the top of the stadium are in black & white ... well Boca's deadly rivals River Plate play in Red & White so there was no way they were going to allow those colours on their stadium.

Reference: Estadio Alberto J. Armando, Wikipedia.com

Edificio Argentino, Buenos Aires

On Lavalle, a block off glitzy Avenida Corrientes, you'll find Edificio Argentino. Its name spelt out on the corner of the building under a stylish clock. The round tower is topped with a stepped dome culminating in a simple flagpole. Lions heads sit at the quarter points under the lip of the dome.

A number of other reliefs punctuate the decorative band below the second storey.

Registro Civil de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires

This is the Registro Civil de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. I know this because it is written above the entrance. I also know that it was built to commemorate something, presumably the establishment of the Registro Civil, between 1886 & 1943 because these two years are written elsewhere on the façade. More I can't really tell you other than the fact that there are three very nice Art Deco lamps hanging in the entrance.

Hotel Cecil, Buenos Aires

A great little modernist building in Buenos Aires with an amazing sign.

Mausoleum, Recoleta Cemetery

An Art Deco mausoleum dating from 1938 at Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires.

Edificio Otto Wulf, Buenos Aires

I admit this is an unusual building to be featured on a blog about Art Deco buildings but if you've been following this blog for any time you'll know that my definition of Art Deco is the widest possible definition and I even stray from that on occasions.

This is Edificio Otto Wulf at Avenida Belgrano, 601 in Buenos Aires. Designed by Morten F Rönnow it was built between 1912 and 1914.

The skyscraperpage.com lists the building as Art Nouveau which fits the time of its construction and while I can see Nouveau elements I would have placed the style of the building as older.

Then again, I can see areas where the decoration has be simplified using geometric shapes as I would expect to see on an Art Deco building from the 1920s. And the row of large figures on the third storey façade would be very much at home in the Deco period.

Reference:
Edificio Otto Wulf, Buenos Aires - skyscraperpage.com

Apartments, Buenos Aires

A lovely asymmetrical apartment block in Buenos Aires.

former Crítica Newspaper Building, Buenos Aires

This is one of the best Art Deco buildings in Buenos Aires. It is the former offices of the Crítica daily newspaper. It was designed by Hungarian architects Andrés & Jorge Kálnay.

Reference:
Av. de Mayo 1333 / Ex Edificio Crítica (JORGE KALNAY), Homenaje a los Arq. Andrés y Jorge Kálnay Blog by Alejandro Machado

Chapman Tomb, Recoleta Cemetery

I presume that this tomb in Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires was originally built for Elisa Chapman since her name appears so promenently above the door.

The Art Deco plaque above Elisa's name, however, relates to Lieutenant Jorge Chapman who was associated with the Military Aviation School but unfortunately died in a plane crash fulfilling his duties on 19 March 1925.

(click on the image to see a larger version)

Obelisco de Buenos Aires

The large obelisk at the intersection of Avenida Corrientes & Avenida 9 de Julio is in many ways the symbol of Buenos Aires.

It was designed by architect Alberto Prebisch and constructed in quicktime between March 20 and May 23 1936. It was built to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the foundation of Buenos Aires using concrete and Olaen white stone from Córdoba.

Reference:
Wikipedia: Obelisk of Buenos Aires