Estrugamou Building

The Estrugamou Building is an architecturally significant residential building in the Retiro area of Buenos Aires.

Estrugamou Building
Palacio Estrugamou
Facade of the Estrugamou Building on Esmeralda (1992)
General information
Architectural styleSecond Empire architecture
LocationRetiro
Address1319 Esmeralda
Town or cityBuenos Aires
CountryArgentina
Coordinates34°35′S 58°22′W
Current tenantsNaela Chohan, Jorge Lanata
Groundbreaking1924
Completed1929
Inaugurated1929
ClientAlejandro Estrugamou
Technical details
Floor count6
Lifts/elevators4
Design and construction
ArchitectEduardo Sauze y August Huguier
DesignationsReplica of the Winged Victory of Samothrace

Overview

The landmark building was commissioned in 1924 by Alejandro Estrugamou, the son of immigrants from the Basses-Pyrénées area of France and a prominent Venado Tuerto (Santa Fe Province) landowner. Conceiving it as an investment property, Estrugamou himself lived in a relatively understated French Baroque mansion, nearby.[1]

Designed by architects Eduardo Sauze y August Huguier,[2] the building, like many of the upscale developments in Argentina during the early 20th century, was designed in an eclectic style heavily influenced by French Baroque and Second Empire architecture. The Estrugamou was built in four sections, arranged around a patio adorned with a bronze copy of the iconic Winged Victory of Samothrace. Nearly every decorative element of the building was imported from France, and the flooring was finished in Slavonian oak.[3]

Inaugurated in 1929, the eight-story Estrugamou Building was one of the few city landmarks to receive no architectural awards at the time of its completion. It was graced by an oversized sidewalk and extensive garden along its southern façade originally, though the civic-minded Alejandro Estrugamou donated this section to the city (which sought to widen Juncal Street) shortly before his death in 1937.[4] The Estrugamou building has been described as an 'oasis of glamour, diplomacy and politics' by virtue of its notable residents and associated personalities.[5]

Residents and Associated Personalities
gollark: That's not how perfection works; a "perfect" system should work on actual people.
gollark: It's WORSE, because someone is spending 5 hours more on a thing than they should.
gollark: NO! Of course not.
gollark: And some thinky stuff too.
gollark: And physical labour is increasingly worthless as automation replaces stuff which isn't thinky.

References
  1. Palacio Estrugamou (in Spanish)
  2. Palacio Estrugamou, Clarin: Glamour, Diplomacy and Politics at the Estrugamou (in Spanish)
  3. Aeberhard, Benson and Phillips. The Rough Guide to Argentina. London: Rough Guides Limited, 2000.
  4. Biblioteca Nacional de la República Argentina: Edificio Estrugamou (in Spanish)
  5. Palacio Estrugamou, Clarin: Glamour, Diplomacy and Politics at the Estrugamou (in Spanish)

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