The
Kavanagh Building is an
Art DecoArt deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
skyscraperA skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
in
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, located at 1065
Florida St.Florida Street is an elegant shopping street in Downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. A pedestrian street since 1971, some stretches have been pedestrianized since 1913....
in the barrio of
RetiroRetiro is a barrio in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Located in the northeast end of the city, Retiro is bordered on the south by the Puerto Madero and San Nicolás wards, and on the west by the Recoleta ward.-Urban character:...
, overlooking
Plaza San MartínPlaza San Martín is a park located in the Retiro neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Situated at the northern end of pedestrianized Florida Street, the park is bounded by Libertador Ave. , Maipú St. , Santa Fe Avenue , and Leandro Alem Av....
. It was designed in 1934 by local architects Gregorio Sánchez, Ernesto Lagos and Luis María de la Torre, and was inaugurated in 1936. The building is characterised by the austerity of its lines, the lack of external ornamentation and its large prismatic volumes. It was declared a
National Historic Monument in 1999, and is one of the most impressive architectural masterpieces of Buenos Aires. Standing at a height of 120 m, it still retains its impact against the modern skyline of the city. In 1939 its facade received an award from the American Institute of Architects.
It was commissioned in 1934 by Corina Kavanagh, who invested all she had inherited in building her own skyscraper. The Kavanagh building has a towering form, with symmetrical setbacks and gradual surface reductions. It was created from the outside in, adapting outstandingly comfortable facilities to the space available. The structure was carefully designed to be as slender as possible, in order to avoid unnecessary weight, and the design was also influenced by the city planning regulations. The design is an hybrid of a
ModernismModernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
and
Art DecoArt deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
style American skyscraper, with a Rationalist approach, and is considered to be the apex of early Modernism in Argentina.
It was at the time the highest reinforced concrete structure in the world, and the tallest building in South America for many years. As the apartments in the new building were aimed at the upper middle classes, no expense was spared in its construction, in order to insure a result of the highest quality. All 105 apartments contained the latest in technological advances, including central air conditioning, twelve
OtisThe Otis Elevator Company is the world's largest manufacturer of vertical transportation systems today, principally focusing on elevators and escalators...
elevators, and state-of-the-art plumbing. Those on the upper floors have exquisite terrace gardens with views of the river, parks and the city.
Corina Kavanagh lived for many years on the 14th floor in the largest apartment, and the only one that occupies an entire floor. There is a legend that says that the shape of the building was designed as a revenge. One of the daughters of Corina, who was from a wealthy but not an aristocrat family, fell in love with the son of the Anchorena family, who were both wealthy and aristocratic. The Anchorena family, who lived in a palace on the other side of
Plaza San MartínPlaza San Martín is a park located in the Retiro neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Situated at the northern end of pedestrianized Florida Street, the park is bounded by Libertador Ave. , Maipú St. , Santa Fe Avenue , and Leandro Alem Av....
(today known as
San Martín PalaceSan Martín Palace is located facing Plaza San Martín in the Retiro neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina and serves as the Ceremonial Headquarters for the Ministry of Foreign Relations.-History:...
), and had built a church next to the site of the Kavanagh Building, disapproved of the engagement. In revenge, Corina Kavanagh made only one demand of the architects she commissioned to design the landmark: that views of the Anchorenas' Church of the Holy Sacrament from their
palaceSan Martín Palace is located facing Plaza San Martín in the Retiro neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina and serves as the Ceremonial Headquarters for the Ministry of Foreign Relations.-History:...
be blocked.
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