- Palacio Barolo
Palacio Barolo is a 22-story office building, located at 1370
Avenida de Mayo ,Buenos Aires ,Argentina .The Italian architect
Mario Palanti was commissioned to design the building by the empresario Luis Barolo, an Italian immigrant who had arrived in Argentina in 1890 and had made a fortune in knitted fabrics. The basic design, in Eclectic style, was conceived simultaneosly with one for thePalacio Salvo inMontevideo ,Uruguay . The Palacio Barolo was designed in accordance with the cosmology of Dante'sDivine Comedy , motivated by the architect's admiration for Alighieri. There are 22 floors, divided into three "sections". The basement and ground floor represent hell, floors 1-14 are the purgatory, and 15-22 represent heaven. The building is 100 meters tall, one meter for each "canto" of the Divine Comedy. The lighthouse at the top of the building can be seen all the way in Montevideo, Uruguay. The owner planned to use only 3 floors, and to rent the rest. Now it is mainly lawyer offices. There is also a Spanish language school and a store that sellsTango clothing.When completed in 1923 it was the tallest building, not only in the city, but also in the whole of
South America . It remained the city's tallest building until 1935 when, on completion, theKavanagh Building took over this title.In 1997 this building was declared a national historic monument. [ [http://infoleg.gov.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/40000-44999/43370/norma.htm Decreto 437/97] ]
References
* Mimi Bohm, Buenos Aires, Art Nouveau, Ediciones Xavier Verstraeten, Buenos Aires, 2005.
* Palacio Barolo brochure from a guided tour.External links
* [http://www.pbarolo.com.ar Palacio Barolo Website]
* [http://www.monumentosysitios.gov.ar/catalogo/ Catalogue of Monuments]
* [http://www.buenosairesantiguo.com.ar/pasajebarolointro.html Pictures]
* [http://www.temakel.com/artbarolo.htm Monument to the latin geniuses]
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