Posts Tagged ‘architecture’

Towards the end of the 19th Century, after a series of increasingly serious disease outbreaks (in 1871 Yellow Fever wiped out nearly 10% of the city’s inhabitants), it was decided to do something about the quality of the drinking water. Work began in 1887 on a central pumping station which when finished in 1894 turned out to be one of the most flamboyant architectural works in a city not known for its understated buildings. Officially named El Gran Depósito Ingeniero Guillermo Villanueva it soon became known by a much more fitting and stately name, El Palacio de Aguas Corrientes (The Palace of Running Water).

Palace may not be overstating things. It may well have contained 12 enormous tanks with a total capacity of 72 million litres of water, but it’s the exterior that truly grabs the attention. Decorated with 400,000 ceramic and glazed terracotta tiles made by Royal Doulton in England and sporting the coats of arms of the 14 (at the time) Argentinian provinces, it’s hard not to be impressed by the sheer effort put into a public utility building.


Whilst its water-pumping days may be over, it still houses the Buenos Aires Water Company’s offices as well as a small water works museum. It can be found on Avenida Córdoba, a couple of blocks from the Callao subte station on Line D.

On the last morning of our long weekend in London we headed to one of my favourite spots in London, the Natural History Museum. For me, it’s what come to mind when you picture a museum – from the rooms filled with fossils and precious stones to the stuffed animals and the entrance hall filled by the dinosaur skeleton, it has it all. This time however, my eye was drawn to the outside of the building, in particular the sculptures on the facade. When it was built, the Victorians believed they were building a cathedral to knowledge, and looking at the work that went into the decoration of the museum, you can see what they meant.

In a city filled with architectural curiosities, one that captures the attention more than most is the Confiteria del Molino, on the corners of Rivadavia and Callao, opposite the Congeso Nacional. Abandoned since 1997, it now sits in one of the best locations of Buenos Aires, looking unloved and getting dirtier every day. Things were not always this way of course, and the building has a much brighter past than its current sorry state implies.

Gaetano Brenna had been operating as a cake maker in Buenos Aires since 1850 and the Brenna name became synonymous with some of the finest Pan Dulce to be found. Towards the end of the 19th Century Brenna changed the name of his café from Confiteria del Centro to Antigua Confitería del Molino (Old Windmill Café) in honour of the nearby Molino Lorea, the first flour mill built in Buenos Aires. In 1905 they moved to the current site and in 1917 the Nueva Confitería del Molino opened in the building we still see today.

In order to build this Art Nouveau masterpiece, architect Francisco Gianotti imported all of the doors, marble, ceramics, glass and 150 m² of stained glass from Italy. Above the decorative windmill, the attic roof and the decorative cupola still have their gold tiles, although due to the dirt accumulated over the years, these are best seen when it’s raining!

Being such a prominent and striking building, many famous Argentines (and others) have passed through its doors. From Eva Perón to Carlos Gardel (who requested a special dessert be created in honour of his friend, jockey Irineo Leguisamo) to Madonna, who even filmed the video for her song Love Don’t Live Here Anymore (see below) in the building, less than a year before it closed.

Unfortunately, the exterior beauty and beautiful clientele did not mean that the business was being run with any level of competence and after several decades of bankruptcies and buyouts the Confiteria finally closed its doors on the 24th January 1997, and was named a National Historic Monument the same year. Plans have come and go to reopen the building, and there is currently a proposal of expropriation working its way through the House of Representatives. Until that happens however, the Confiteria del Molina will remain closed, it’s grubby exterior giving us only a small glimpse of her glamourous past.

Today’s photo was taken the day after Brasilia’s 49th Anniversary celebrations outside the iconic cathedral. I’d already done the tour of the buildings a couple of days before and I just liked the look of this guy taking a break from his work.