Buenos Aires Legislative Assembly Palace

In 1917, a member of the city council, socialist Alfredo Spinetto officially raised the question of the need to build a headquarters for the city council. Two years later, the mayor of the city of Saturnino, J. Garcia Anido, approved the construction project by allowing the creation of the ministry, which is the executive body together with the city council, a block from Plaza Miserere Square.

Argentine President Hipolito Yrigoyen on December 4 appointed Jose Luis Cantilo as mayor of the city and the construction of a new municipal palace was postponed. Nevertheless, the search for the proposed construction site was unsuccessful, but since mid-1921, advisers to Spinetto, Villarreal and Gonzalez Meseda in the office of the Public Works Commission, began to prepare construction plans and choose a construction site. By then, one of the proposed sites for construction was the corner of Avenida Corrientes and Carlos Pellegrini. The following year, the mayor of the city, Juan B. Barnetche, drew up a plan and budget for the construction of the new building, but Garcia Anido confirmed his desire to build the building between the streets of Rivadavia, Huhui, Catamarca and Victoria. At the end of the year, a certain budget was allocated for the construction of the palace.

In fact, the land for construction was located on one of the three main highways of the historical center of the city: Avenida Presidente Julio Argentino Roca , in memory of the president, who led the country for two periods - 1880-1888 and 1898-1904; also called Diagonal Sur, Peru Street, so named in 1857 in honor of the American Republic, which became independent thanks to the Argentinean general Jose de San Martin and the third street, Hipolito Yrigoyen, who received this name in 1946 in honor of the President of Argentina, who also became the leader of the nation twice, in 1916 and 1928. This area is part of the city, built in 1580 by Juan de Garay .

Construction

In 1925, a construction project was created and on December 29, the architect Hector Ayerza was chosen, who was appointed to manage the construction. Another participant in the competition was the Frenchman Eduard Le Monier, whose proposal is identical to the construction of Ayers, and some researchers claim that, therefore, is also the author of the project. ^{[5] [6]} The idea of ​​construction is in tune with the modernization process, which was launched in the late nineteenth century under the control of public administration, transformed May Square, large public buildings, banks and trading houses were built. In addition, there was widespread opinion at that time, used in the construction of French academism, prevailing in official architecture. France was the desired model of the nation in those years. While in Europe, the Beautiful Era lasted until the First World War , and in Argentina lasted until the 1920s until the introduction of the art deco style.

Ayers studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Buenos Aires, who graduated in 1916, continued his studies in Paris. He was influenced, in particular, by the prestigious French architect Edouard Lemonier. Among his other works are Palacio Fernandez Anhorena, current Apostolic residence and Yatch Club Argentino. He does not shun certain cosmopolitan eclecticism evident in accepting elements of various architectural traditions, for example, his bell tower, which resembles belforts, civil towers or the Flemish Beffroy . As part of the bibliographic treasure, the Legislative Palace remains an album with over a hundred photographs taken by Ayers, showing the construction process between 1926 and 1931. This was not the first work for a young architect, although it was a pleasant opportunity to do his job. Since 1920, he was a sought-after architect for the construction of buildings in the city, including 829/43 Charcas Street - which ended two months before the construction of the Legislative Palace began - and also the buildings along Callao and Avenida Alvear Streets. On Wednesday, November 10, 1926, the Council Presidium proceeded to open envelopes containing proposals submitted by construction companies. The first foundation stone was laid under the future Congress of Municipalities of Argentina, on November 18, 1926, the President of Argentina, Dr. Marcel Torcuato de Alvear - the son of the former first mayor of the city; Municipal Mayor Dr. Noel, Dr. Emilio Ravignani, and Chairman of the Advisory Council, Dr. Horacio Casco. For this occasion, a memorial plaque was erected. At the meeting on December 14, the project was adopted and the construction company began work on September 19, 1927, among other things, during the laying of the foundation, tunnels and underground wells of the colonial era were discovered, made by the Jesuits Manzana de las Luses from the nearby Cabildo. In 1929, Decree No. 3647 of 3.116 m2 of surface, between the Avenida President Julio Argentino Roca and the streets of Peru and Victoria, was allocated a place for construction.

Opening

The palace was opened on Saturday, at noon on October 3, 1931. In a contradictory setting, the city’s advisory body was assembled due to the fact that on September 6 last year, a military coup led by Jose Felix Uribru took place . So a harsh official ceremony was chaired by the mayor appointed by the government, Jose Gerrico, a member of the Special Construction Committee, in the presence of the Minister of the Interior, Octavio Pico. Legislative activity took place in the Manzana de las Luzes building, and the faculties of the exact, physical and natural sciences of the University of Buenos Aires were temporarily housed in the building. On January 10, 1932, 30 municipal councilors were elected. On February 19, a meeting was held in the building, chaired by the new mayor Agustin Carbon, from an independent Socialist Party. These acts actually formalized the work of the Palace of the Legislative Assembly of the city. ^[6]

Democracy Headquarters

The Palace of the Legislative Assembly, restored democratic institutions in 1984, reconstructing the original design of architect Hector Iyerz, which includes a building located between Avenida President Julio Roca and Ipolito Irigojen Street, which has been expanded. Ten years later, with the reform of the Constitution, the city of Buenos Aires received an autonomous system of its own powers of law and jurisdiction. In 1996, when the city council finally dissolved the constitutional autonomy of the city of Buenos Aires, the building was designed to house the legislature. For this reason, it was completely rebuilt, given that it is in the historical heritage protection zone. The reconstruction took place from July 1998 to March 1999.

Today

With the adoption of Law No. 1444, in September 2004, city deputies approved a plan for the cost of repairing the Legislative Palace. To this end, the law created a special commission to “approve the planning, implementation and management of all aspects of the work infrastructure carried out by the building construction and restoration department in accordance with the established procedure on the basis of resolution No. 369/98.” The commission is responsible for managing the fund, a specially created trust agreement with a public sector bank, it consists of a Council chaired by a six-member legislative administration, two representing tional power and four parliament. ^[7] On September 26, 2011, by Decree 1495/11, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the Legislative Assembly Palace, was declared a National Historic Landmark on the 80th anniversary of his inauguration. ^{[8] The} works were pending.

The building consists of a basement, ground floor, first floor, four more floors and a central tower 97 meters high. Imitating the neoclassical style, Louis XVI has at its peak, at the level of the fourth floor, a ledge that ends with an attic with a crown. On the facades there is an art complex of 26 statues (caryatids), which were created by foreign authors or naturalized Argentines. Each statue symbolizes various aspects of urban life: ^[9]

• From the street of Peru:
  Navigation, child protection, social order, observation, power and law, medicine and chemistry, trade (created by Troyano Troyani)
• From the street of Yrigoyen and Avenida Julio Argentino Roca:
  Markets, slaughterhouses (author Juan Carlos Oliva Navarro). Music and History ( Luis Perlotti ). Architecture (Torquato Tasso). Athletics and Drawing (Hector Rocha).
• From the side of Avenida Julio Argentino Roca:
  Progress, Aesthetics, Volcano (Juan Batista Leone). Dimension, Character (Roberto Juan Sapuro). Justice, Underground World (Pedro Tenti). Pomona, Architecture, Edilicia, Industry. (Santiago Berna)

Numerous works of art created mainly by Argentines, but also by authors of other nationalities, especially Uruguayans, who are represented by numerous paintings in the salon of the city of Montevideo.

Halls

• Golden Hall (Salón Dorado)
  Like the Mirror Hall at the Palace of Versailles in France. You get there by climbing up the stairs. Columns from the capital in the style of the Ionian order around the central part of the hall and the gallery, which, through leads through the arcades, a balcony over the central sector. The national emblem is located on the balcony. The Central Hall is lit by 6 chandeliers and 14 chandeliers to the gallery. The hall is used for public hearings, receptions and events. Nordiska Kompaniet SA won the competition for the interior decoration of this hall, designed by the young French architect Paul Louis Marcel, who graduated from the School of Decorative Arts in Paris, who was hired specifically for this work in France, the hall was restored in 1987 by a group led by architects Paul Grosil and Carlos Moreno and his co-author, architect Elizabeth Chris. The curious fact that Grosil, having once visited Argentina, never returned to France, continuing his professional life in a Latin American country in its vicinity. ^[9]

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  Golden Hall old photo

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  Golden Hall today

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  Golden Hall today

• Montevideo Hall
  This is the hall of the palace. In the hall, meetings were held between officials of the cities of Montevideo and Buenos Aires, these meetings were held annually to exchange ideas on how to improve the municipal level in both cities. It is often used as a conference room.

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  Montevideo Hall

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  Montevideo Hall

• Hall of Lost Steps or President Peron
  This room serves for receptions and waiting. Its central part is surrounded by marble columns forming a gallery through the arcades.

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  Hall of President Peron

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  Hall of President Peron

• San Martin Hall
  In the upper part there is marble from Greece, below it is upholstered with wrought iron in relief. Here stands a series of Doric columns that created the gallery. The massive chandelier in the form of a spider in the center has 40 lamps in different planes by reflecting glass. This room, like the Golden Hall, was designed by the same architect Pavel Grosil in the French style. It was also restored by the same team of architects who worked in the Golden Hall.

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  San Martin Hall

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  San Martin Hall

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  San Martin Hall

• Eva Peron Hall
  It is located between the offices of the head and vice president of the legislature. Eva Peron worked there. The Eva Peron Foundation was led by Maria Eva Duarte de Peron during the presidency of her husband Juan Domingo Peron. Some items from their furniture and personal items are kept in the hall. There are also two chests of drawers, in the style of Louis XIV, created by cabinetmaker Tarris with a national emblem engraved on their doors. Their walls are covered with oak paneling.

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  Eva Peron Hall

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  Eva Peron Hall

• Consultants Room (Concejales)
  

This hall is semicircular and has in the center a table (Boiserie) of Italian walnut and a marble colonnade from Greece. The ceiling is vaulted with a large central chandelier.

• Hall Comedor de Honor (Living Room of Honor)
  In fact, it was never used as a dining room. It has crystal chandeliers and Louis XVI style furniture.
• Exhibition Hall (Sala de exposiciones)
  

It has been underground since 2007, the exhibition center and the museum of the legislature. Admission is usually free.

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  Reception Hall

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  Reception Hall

Esteban Echeverria Library

On the ground floor there is a library and a reading room, which stands out for its wooden upholstery and chandeliers. The library has 35,000 copies, and librarians can consult with the general public. Contains literature on laws and legislative decisions. You can access a copy related to the topics of the committees and on the historical, social-urban, cultural development of the city. Consultations can be over the Internet. The library provides three services provided or areas that support: customer service, technical processes, and restoration and preservation of books. There is a reading room for legislators, officials, legislators, and the general public. Communication service, allows you to track the requested information and search for it in other files contained in the library. The collection of antique volumes from the Treasury Library stands out from the collection of books. More than 2,000 books (some digitized), published from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth century. Some of them are the old legislation of the Gothic kings of Spain, the Laws of India, the old acts of the Buenos Aires Town Hall, photographs of old Buenos Aires planes and the Centennial photo album dedicated to the May Revolution. There are audiovisual files based on documentation related to the presence of Eva Peron in the Palace and institutions, implemented social policies between 1943 and 1955. Tango has over 250 scores, books and brochures about this music. In June 2012, about 13,000 books were damaged by water due to flooding caused by water leaking from the ceiling and the parquet floor was flooded. This fact was not discovered immediately, because it happened during the weekend. ^[10] Owing to the cooperation of technical specialists from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), the University del Social Museo Argentino Museum (UMSA) and the Otto Krause school, they underwent repair and restoration. They also took the opportunity to improve electrical installations and include sensors and detectors capable of preventing accidents. Of the 33,210 copies stored here (2,000 left in place), 5112 were directly affected by water. Of these, 3462 were dried and returned to the shelves. 100 books have been lost, but it is reported that it is possible to restore them. ^[eleven]

Hemerothek Jose Hernandez

The archive has an informational, cultural and historical heritage, compiled from a collection of periodicals of national newspapers since 1870. The collection has microfilms of the newspaper La Argentina, which begins in 1902 and continues until 1947 (the complete and only one in South America). It also has collections of the Nacion newspaper (from 1870 to 1995), the La Prensa newspaper (1892-1995) and the La Razon newspaper (the most complete that exists) from 1906 to 1987. Others are La Opinion (1971-1979); Tiempo Argentino (1982-1986); Página 12 (desde 1987); El Cronista (desde 1968); dos años del diario Democracia (1953-1954); Correo de la Tarde (1958-1959); a short period of evening La Tarde (1976); Extra (1990-1992) and Nuevo Sur (1989-1990). They may have found related magazines: market; News; Mage Reporter Extra; Opinion; Dinamis; Humor; Journal XXIII and its predecessor, XXII and XXI of the same publisher, Three Points; Page 30; A week; Seven days; Leoplán; and others. It also has folders containing journalistic information on topics such as: “Attack on the Israeli Embassy and AMIA” by Grandma's Plaza de Mayo, “Ecological Reserve”, etc.