Virginio Colombo Part #2

The amazing Venetian-style building by architect Virginio Colombo across the street from his more well-known building the Casa Calise in the suburb of Balvanera in Buenos Aires.

Casa Calise, Virginio Colombo

 

Virginio Colombo is another of Buenos Aires' Art Nouveau architects. Born in Milan in 1885, he came to Argentina when he was 21 and produced almost 50 buildings before his death in 1927 at the age of just 42. Two of his most iconic buildings are located in the neighborhood of Balvanera: The Casa de los Pavos Reales at Rivadavia 3216 and the Casa Calise at Hipolito Yrigoyen 2562, the latter depicted in these photos.

The Casa Calise is hidden in the backstreets, away from the tourist circuit. The facade features many decorative features such as cherubs, sculptures, lion heads, the use of different textures and ironwork, and has become one of the iconic examples of the Art Nouveau movement in Buenos Aires.

In order to build this new style of building that broke away from traditional architecture, Colombo purchased the land facing the Casa Calise so that nobody could object to his style. The building that now stands across the street was also built by Colombo and is quite different but incredibly beautiful. Such amazing history in the same narrow street!

 It is extremely difficult to photograph this building as the street is so narrow and there are trees that block the lower half!

Bookstore, Avenida de Mayo

A couple of weeks ago on an excursion with my architecture class, we stumbled upon this bookstore located inside one of the Art Nouveau buildings we were all admiring. The owner invited us inside to look at the building and her shop, which turned out to be quite amazing for two reasons: the collection of vintage books and Argentine memorabilia and the building itself with an amazing ceiling and other architectural details.

The bookshop is called La Calesita and I am definitely planning a return visit in the near future.

More Art Nouveau

Some more Art Nouveau buildings by Julian Garcia Nuñez. Perhaps his most well-known building the Hospital Español (above) on Avenida Belgrano and La Rioja (only half of it remains today), and below, an office building at Chacabuco 78 in the heart of the city.

Art Nouveau in Buenos Aires

One of the most important Art Nouveau architects in Buenos Aires at the turn of the 20th Century was Julian Garcia Nuñez. His distintive architecture broke away from the traditional academic style and favored the use of different textures and colors, iron work, geometric forms, patterns and lines that reflect flowers and nature.

He built most of his work between 1906 and 1920 and while some of his buildings no longer stand, many can still be found around the place. Because Art Nouveau was a radical new style of architecture it was not adopted by the government, and the buildings were not constructed in the very centre of the city. As the city of Buenos Aires expanded and now approx. 100 years on, many Art Nouveau buildings are hidden in the back streets of different neighbourhoods.

This first building I have included was completed in 1913 by Garcia Nuñez as a Casa de Rentas or apartment building and stands in a back street at Sáenz Peña 274 near the Plaza de Congreso.

 This last photo shows the architect's signature "J Garcia Arq. 1913" which he used to mark all of his buildings in the early part of his career.