French splendor in Buenos Aires - Palacio Paz
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Discovering BA
Circulo Militar – Palacio Paz
The Círculo Militar o Palacio Paz, a grand marble building overlooking Plaza San Martín, it was built as the mansion of the Gainza Paz family. Until the 1920's, Argentina was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, thanks to the fertile farms and ranches that spread over the pampa. Back then, many of the welthy families divide their stays between Buenos Aires, London and Paris. Looking at Europe for fashion, arquitecture, decoration and style, these men used to hire european arquitects, mainly French, to have their houses designed. The Paz family, owners of the newspaper La Prensa at Avda. de Mayo (one of the most important newspaper during the 20th century, the original office now is the Casa de Cultura, another place worth a visit), was one of the wealthiest and powerful families in the country. The family patriarch, José Clemente Paz, comissioned the project to the french architect Louis H. M. Sortais. He never saw its completition because he died in 1912, and the building was built in stages from 1902 to 1914.
Marble and other materials throughout the building were imported from all over Europe. The ground floor rooms where used for social purposes, while the upper floor had the bedrooms for the familiy members. Each room has an original design, every single chandelier, chimney or floor tile is unique, they where built for the admiration of their visitors, and it still does. Most rooms are reminiscent of Versailles, especially the bedrooms and the gold-and-white ballroom with an ornate parquet floor, flower vases made of Japanese porcelane. It has a special room for Chamber Music, the acoustic of this room is outstanding, the Paz family invited famous opera singers for their delight. Other rooms are in Tudor style. The six elevators are original to the building and the overall height of the building is eight stories, though with their high ceilings, there are only four levels to the building. The most impressive room is the round Hall of Honor, which sits under an interior rotunda and even has a balconied second level to create the effect of being in a theatre stage, the doors in this second level have mirrors to make the room look bigger and the marble creates an effect of having curtains. It was a private mini-opera house, covered in multicolored marble and gilded bronze, the floor design is a sun with its rays, which can be also seen in the dome. This room is used now for events, conferences, weddings.
Now is officially called the Círculo Militar, named for the society of retired military officers that bought the building in 1938.
Address Av. Santa Fe 750
Phone 4311-1071/79
Web Site www.circulomilitar.org
Tours in Spanish Tues – Frid. 11AM and 3 PM
Wed. – Thursd. 4PM
Tours in English Tues – Frid. 4 PM
The Círculo Militar o Palacio Paz, a grand marble building overlooking Plaza San Martín, it was built as the mansion of the Gainza Paz family. Until the 1920's, Argentina was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, thanks to the fertile farms and ranches that spread over the pampa. Back then, many of the welthy families divide their stays between Buenos Aires, London and Paris. Looking at Europe for fashion, arquitecture, decoration and style, these men used to hire european arquitects, mainly French, to have their houses designed. The Paz family, owners of the newspaper La Prensa at Avda. de Mayo (one of the most important newspaper during the 20th century, the original office now is the Casa de Cultura, another place worth a visit), was one of the wealthiest and powerful families in the country. The family patriarch, José Clemente Paz, comissioned the project to the french architect Louis H. M. Sortais. He never saw its completition because he died in 1912, and the building was built in stages from 1902 to 1914.
Marble and other materials throughout the building were imported from all over Europe. The ground floor rooms where used for social purposes, while the upper floor had the bedrooms for the familiy members. Each room has an original design, every single chandelier, chimney or floor tile is unique, they where built for the admiration of their visitors, and it still does. Most rooms are reminiscent of Versailles, especially the bedrooms and the gold-and-white ballroom with an ornate parquet floor, flower vases made of Japanese porcelane. It has a special room for Chamber Music, the acoustic of this room is outstanding, the Paz family invited famous opera singers for their delight. Other rooms are in Tudor style. The six elevators are original to the building and the overall height of the building is eight stories, though with their high ceilings, there are only four levels to the building. The most impressive room is the round Hall of Honor, which sits under an interior rotunda and even has a balconied second level to create the effect of being in a theatre stage, the doors in this second level have mirrors to make the room look bigger and the marble creates an effect of having curtains. It was a private mini-opera house, covered in multicolored marble and gilded bronze, the floor design is a sun with its rays, which can be also seen in the dome. This room is used now for events, conferences, weddings.
Now is officially called the Círculo Militar, named for the society of retired military officers that bought the building in 1938.
Address Av. Santa Fe 750
Phone 4311-1071/79
Web Site www.circulomilitar.org
Tours in Spanish Tues – Frid. 11AM and 3 PM
Wed. – Thursd. 4PM
Tours in English Tues – Frid. 4 PM
1 comment:
We visited this mansion in December and was amazed at it's "over the top" splendor. It is a beautiful mansion and the details in the wood work was amazing. The down size was that there were no furniture.
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