Scenes from el Bajo (my neighborhood)

Plaza San Martin and surrounding couple of blocks to the south-west of the city is called el Bajo (Down), a part of bustling Microcentro of Buenos Aires. I think the closest example to my neighborhood  would be Tribeca of NYC, as they both are sandwiched between financial districts and residential areas at the same time, where very few people reside. There are many offices, pubs, bars, restaurants, pavyons (bar where one goes to get a working girl in turkish), little boutiques selling odd things and it is deserted by 7 pm mostly. Those few residents are mostly artists, writers, whores, and a couple of yuppies who are cool enough to prefer walking to work instead of commuting from a posh suburban neighborhood. I fell in love with this part of town since my first visit in 2004, and after 4 years and 8 neighborhoods, here I am!

There are many incredible buildings around the plaza: South America's first skyscraper the Kavanagh (I think I have written about it before, if not, very soon I will write about La venganza de Corina), the Plaza Hotel, Palacio Anchorena, and Palacio San Martin, and Palacio de Paz or Circulo Militar.

As one enters the city’s most opppulent Plaza, Plaza San Martin, by the way of Santa Fe Avenue, one cannot miss the incredible bronze door decorated with leaves and flowers, reminiscent of the entrance of residences of Paris.

Over looking the plaza designed by French landscape architect Charles Leon Thays it attracted all the uber rich portenos to get the best spot to construct homes around it.  Today Plaza San Martin is decorated with luscious trees from all around the world and is surrounded by pseudo-palaces that once belonged to Buenos Aires’s most prominent families, such as Anchorenas, Kavanagh and the protagonist of our story for this issue Jose Camilo Paz, the founder of Argentina’s first newspaper: La Prensa.

Mr. Paz worked as the ambassador to Paris from 1885 to 1893 and was very fond of its architecture so he hired Louis-Marie Henri Sortaris, a French master, to plan his house and the 12 thousand square meter palace was constructed in a mere 12 year period.

The main entrance hall is built entirely on Carrara marble and stained glass windows, its numerous living rooms and 35 bedrooms are decorated with furniture brought from different stores in Paris.  This enormous house was used for a family of 9 but needed the services of 60 maids. Ironically Mr. Paz never lived in his palace, he died in Monte Carlo in 1912, two years before the palace was finished.

A city myth says Paz’s obsession with Parisian architecture and why he built this gargantuan Versailles-like house lies in his dream and ambition of becoming the President of Argentina. 

Art Deco & Menendez Libros

Buenos Aires: founded once and once again, offers a variety of impressive architectural heritage and utopian ambitions. Without a doubt this is the city of new beginnings, and re-birth.

Most of the city’s architectural heritage comes from the late 19^th early 20^th century, during the height of the great European migration to Argentina. During this period Buenos Aires was one of the world’s richest, fastest growing cities. The capital was a blank canvas and its architects wanted to create their dream city at the beginning of a brand new century. It became the Latin American metropolis during this time and thus came Art Deco and Rationalist works of the young and ambitious portenos.

Debuted in 1925 in Paris, Art deco architecture became all the rage spanning the Depression era through 1940. It glorified geometric forms and hard lines inspired by archeological discoveries being made at the time in Egypt, Syria and the Americas.

Prominent examples of art deco architecture in Buenos Aires include the above mentioned Kavanagh Building and the Abasto Market, once cities main fruit and vegetable market, now an oppulent shopping mall. Art deco is mixed throughout most parts of Buenos Aires but especially in the downtown area, right here in the Bajo.

Among the many beautiful art deco buildings of our neighborhood one cannot miss Paraguay 431+435, designed by Valentin Brodsky. From its bronze ornate doors to black and white tile floors, two towers, and modern façade, it is one of the most beautiful remaining examples of an era in the city.

Perhaps it is impossible for a visitor to peek inside the building, yet thanks to Marta Menendez’s book store, Menendez Libros, one can get a taste of Brodsky’s work and lost him/herself among the books and the beauty of an era of hope and reconstruction.

The bookstore was opened in 2009, after a hefty renovation project. A lifelong resident of the Bajo, Marta decided to restore the space to its original and furnished it with art deco tables and chairs bought from Mercado de Pulgas. The light fixtures were bough at Scforza in San Telmo, original floors and a freight elevator found during restoration were kept. The space was used as a kitchen factory at first and until she bought it was a store called Kelly, which sold appliances!