Never Was Magazine

Edificio Kavanagh, Buenos Aires:

1930s architecture in Argentina is not limited to slaughterhouses and cemeteries. Despite the Great Depression, new apartment houses were more luxurious than ever, and the greatest of all stands at 1065 Calle Florida.

Here’s an article by Roberto Dario Frassinetti @ About.com:

Edificio Kavanagh, the Kavanagh building, is one of the most impressive architectonic masterpieces of Buenos Aires.

Built in the 1930s, this building expresses the feeling of an era, and as many specialists agree, its features remind us that what has been often called a problematic view of modernism, meaning that what can be seen at first sight as esthetic conservatism, is actually updated, or better said, irrupted by pure and modern lines.

Photo by Diego Frangi @ Flickr

Corina Kavanagh, one of Argentina’s wealthiest women, invested all she had inherited – the story tells that she had to sell all her other properties to do so - to build her own skyscraper. The architects that carried out this ambitious project were Gregorio Sánchez, Ernesto Lagos and Luis Maria de la Torre.

Photo by Drew at large @ Flickr

In 1936, the architects expressed their feelings about the new creation in one of Buenos Aires’ most refined architectural magazines, noting that the shape of the building was determined by material and legislative limitations. As the explained the project, Sánchez, Lagos and de la Torre affirmed that the building was created from the outside in, adapting outstanding comfortable facilities to the space they had in order to create the masterpiece they were asked to design. This design is seen in many of the building’s features such as the passage that separates it from the Plaza Hotel, one of the most traditional buildings of the area; and the gradual surface reduction, a strategy these magnificent architects took in order to make the most of the city’s construction limitations. Their choices resulted in a great use of space allowing the owners of those exquisite apartments to enjoy amazing terrace gardens in the height and in the heart of the city. Sánchez, Lagos y de la Torre designed 105 apartments whose leitmotiv was functionality and economy, demonstrating in each and every corner the feeling of the epoch, rationality and technological advances.

Photo by Agustín Faggiano @ Flickr

This Argentinean Art Decó masterpiece was at that time, 1935, the highest skyscraper built entirely in concrete of Latin America with its luxurious 120 meters of height. Nowadays, although surpassed by other constructions in height, the Kavanagh still is one of Buenos Aires’ most coveted apartment buildings. Located in the heart of the chic neighborhood of Retiro, in up town Buenos Aires, the exposé of the Latin American Art Decó dresses up the whole area. The Kavanagh offers its tenants one of the city’s best views combining a perfect approach to the coasts of the Rio de la Plata, the outstanding British styled Retiro train station, the amazing walkable Florida Street, and of course, an excellent “front yard” in the Plaza San Martín, the beautiful central park on a hill that runs all the way from Libertador Avenue up to Santa Fe Avenue.

Photo by ftessa (wiba) @ Flickr