Metropolis - History of a City through Images of its Buildings

As you may, or may not, recall from my Recoleta cemetery posting, the architecture in Argentina is fabulous beyond belief. Apartments have extremely high ceilings, government buildings are wonderfully ornate, churches are practically completely gilded and other abandoned or derelict buildings still have a certain air about them that evokes images of artists, bohemians, wealthy aristocrats and other bon vivants as they walk the beautiful city streets in search of a purpose. Buenos Aires was the place to be, the cultural and artistic center of America, at the beginning of the 20th Century. It's for these, and other, reasons that Buenos Aires was dubbed the 'Paris' of South America.





(This is a perfect exmple of what makes the architecture in this city so brilliant. Something as simple as a doorway, simply cannot be 'just a doorway'.)


Though this is just my own little conspiracy theory, I think there is quite a bit of fowl play when it comes to ownership of the bigger more awesome buildings. For some reason, the government owns all of them.








(Fucking trees!!!)


(This is Tribunales a.k.a. The Supreme Court.)


(The building, itself, is too large for me to get a proper picture of.)


Quick Note: Though it's well known that the majority of these buildings were designed by and in the style of the french, it's clear that they took more than a few ques from the Greeks and the Romans.







From the beginning of the 20th century til WWI, Argentina was one of the richest and most socially and technologically advanced countries in the world. The subway system was inaugurated in 1913 and it's rich and liberal society brought about an economic boom which led to an enormous influx of immigrants from all over the world. As of today, Buenos Aires has the world's 3rd largest Jewish citizen base, behind New York City and Tel Aviv respectively.



The impact of the large immigrant base on Argentine culture is quite evident. Pasta is a staple meal due to the Italians. The architecture is of very obvious French backgrounds. There are entire colonies of German ancestry in the province of Cordoba. A preference for British English over American. It wasn't until 1959 that they reverted from British custom, to driving on the right side of the road. The subway still rides on the left side though, which really confused me when I first arrived in the city.


(This is just a regular apartment building. Notre Dame much?)


And, finally, I give you the Teatro Colón, one of (if not the oldest), opera houses in America. The detailing on the building is superb and it's condition is astonishing, considering it has been graffitied, remodeled multiple times and even bombed.