King Carlos III of Spain declared burials inside or beside churches illegal in 1787, but the American colonies waited awhile to implement those new rules. Old habits are hard to break. Buenos Aires opened Recoleta Cemetery in 1822, but Bogotá inaugurated their first public cemetery much earlier in 1791. The same plan for that first cemetery was used for the layout of the Cementerio Central, opening in 1825.
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Bogotá’s growth as a city seemed to be outward rather than upward. Its relative lack of tall buildings point to the fact that acquiring new land was more economic than tearing down older structures & constructing taller ones in their place. Also, the fact that the region is prone to earthquakes made building low a priority. Good examples of colonial buildings dot La Candelaria. The biggest wow for me was the Franciscan Iglesia La Tercera, with construction beginning in 1760 & full of exquisite Rococo carvings… probably of walnut, very dark & sensual:
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Barrio Juan Perón • Saavedra
Andonaegui & Larralde
Wow. That took forever to draw… I guess it’s worth the effort since this 1949 project represents the first successful attempt to think outside the standard, Buenos Aires grid plan. No government-sponsored housing project had ever been attempted on such a large scale. The layout is not symmetrical, but it comes close. City limits obviously cramped the design since Avenida General Paz slices through the “U,” so planners extended the left (actually southwest) side slightly to compensate.
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Barrio 1º de Marzo • Saavedra
Galván & Larralde
In the same year that the concrete blocks of Barrio Balbastro housed families in Bajo Flores, a completely new idea popped up in Saavedra: the chalet californiano, single story houses set back from the street with terracotta roofs & wooden shutters. Based on Jesuit missions in California, a certain sector of the upper class loved this imported & definitely foreign style. The Perón government brought it to the people.
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Barrio Balbastro, 1948 • (Bajo) Flores
Balbastro & Rivera Indarte
Welcome to the Perón era. With only four projects built in the previous 20 years, no doubt a housing crisis for lower income workers affected Buenos Aires… and provided good enough reason to eliminate the CNCB. Perón’s support came from the working class, so it’s not surprising that he began to cater to their needs.
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Casa Colectiva Martín Rodríguez, 1943 • La Boca
Avenida Pedro de Mendoza & Martín Rodríguez
It was the end of an era. The ineffectiveness of the Comisión Nacional de Casas Baratas (CNCB) was evident by the end of the 1930’s. Proof can be seen in the huge number of alternative organizations to take up the slack suggested by city officials & the national Congress. Also, the number of constructed units was only small percentage of original projections.
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Barrio Alvear II, 1939 • Parque Avellaneda
Juan Vucetich & José Bonifacio
Remember the confusion of Barrio Alvear 1? Only four city blocks of chalets were built by the Comisión Nacional de Casas Baratas, marked with the number 1 on the map below. Funds could not keep up with increased costs but 16 years later, the project continued.
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Casa Colectiva Patricios, 77 units • Parque Patricios
24 de Noviembre & Rondeau
The 1930s weren’t good for housing projects in Buenos Aires. No doubt due to worldwide recession, workers had neither the government nor private organizations to look after them. Remember Barrio Rawson was finished in 1934 & the Casa Colectiva América in 1937… only two projects since 1928 is hardly a good track record or very helpful to those in need. By 1939, the program got back on track & two more projects were completed.
Read More »housing for the masses: casa colectiva patricios, 1939Casa Colectiva Bernardino Rivadavia, 1921 • San Telmo
Defensa 767
Right in the heart of the Sunday street fair in San Telmo is this rather unassuming building. Remember that the CNCB’s first project was an apartment building in Parque Patricios. Then they opted for individual, chalet-style housing. With this project they went back again to the apartment building model. Talk about indecisive:
Casa Colectiva América, 1937 • San Telmo
Avenida San Juan & Balcarce
I put this series on the back burner a few months ago while doing the dome map & getting the cemetery blog up. Now I feel sufficiently guilty to continue where I left off… the 1930’s. Worldwide economic depression in 1929 & Argentina’s first military coup in 1930 also make this a good moment to start again. Economic & political problems brought social welfare to a halt for most of the decade.
Read More »housing for the masses: casa colectiva américa, 1937