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Being the capital and the largest city of Argentina, Buenos Aires is a worth see city for every tourists in Latin America. The city is an amazing architectural wonderland, for those who are looking for amazing architectural buildings, reflecting all the historical time periods and the cultural influences. The city features a lot of architectural wonders in a number of different styles, also in some part of the city these different styles blend together and also certain areas are featured by a specific style as well. So in the following let’s see a short guide to the Buenos Aires architecture.
The history of architecture in the city:
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Most of the buildings were built during the years of 1880 till 1920, as this was the period when the city started to flourish and it was one of the fastest growing cities of the world. If we are wandering around the city, we observe that there is a mix of architectural styles thanks to the huge number of immigrants . The most significant architectural styles are: Colonial, Art Deco, Neoclassical, Art Nouveau and Non Gothic.
Neclassical
It is hard to miss neoclassical buildings in Buenos Aires, as they can be seen almost everywhere, schools, hospitals, banks and other public buildings were constructed in neoclassical style. Columns, arched windows, domes, and triangular facades are the most representative features of this style.
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is the style that defined the 20th century. The Art Nouveau buildings feature curving asymmetrical lines. Flowers, animals, feminine figures are all dominating on these buildings.
Must see architectural style buildings, structures in Buenos Aires:
©Gabriel Masliah/flickr
Palacio de las Aguas Corrientes: From the years of 1895 the building was home of twelve giant tanks which distributed water to the city. Today the building hosts a museum, displaying antique faucets and urinals. Placio Barolo-This Ne Gothic style building has 22 floors. Edificio Kavanagh-Being an art deco style building, in the early 1930, was considered to be the tallest skyscraper in Latin America. Mercado de Abasto-It is a wonderful restored building that houses one of the biggest shopping mall in the city: El Abasto. Puente de la Mujer-(Bridge of the Woman) was designed by a Spanish Contemporary Architect. Floralis Generica-Designed as an environmental structure, Floralis Generica’s metallic petals open and close due to the solar rays, so that is why we can see “blooming” in the heat of the day and closed at night.
©Francisco Aragao/flickr
Cabildo-It is a beautiful old colonial building . Its interior houses a small museum displaying religious icons and varied architectural relics. Casa Rosada-It is an Italian style building with the most famous balconies juts out of Argentina’s Presidential Palace, known as Casa Rosada. Its museum presents some interesting presidential artifacts. On evenings a platoon of mounted grenadiers emerges from the guardhouse in order to lower the flag on the Plaza. It is a must see ceremony. Cathedral Metropolitana-This Neoclassical Cathedral Metropolitana houses the tomb of Argentina’s hero General Jose de San Martin. Teatro Colón-It is considered to be the city’s icon, as it is known as one of the best opera houses for its acoustics. Built in Italian Style with some French decorations is a gorgeous building.