Puerto Madero the New Face of the City
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Year 2 / N° 5 El Observador Porteño March (The Observer of the City of Buenos Aires) Monthly Newspaper of the Cultural-Historical Heritage Observatory 2018 Puerto Madero The new face of the City Warehouses and grocery stores of Puerto Madero in the beginning of the 20th century. This electronic bulletin is aimed at promoting the activities carried out by the Juntas de Estudios Históricos (Historical Research Boards) and the Gerencia Operativa de Patrimo- nio (Heritage Operative Management) within the framework of Resolution 1534/GCABA/ MCGC/2011, which created the Observatorio del Patrimonio Histórico-Cultural (Cultur- al-Historical Heritage Observatory) of the City of Buenos Aires. We will publish infor- mation on every neighborhood of the city on a monthly basis, as well as relevant articles related to the aforementioned Board. Puerto Madero: the new face This is how we reached 1880. There were of the City two options: the canal could be made deeper, and the installations of the Riachuelo could The port of Buenos Aires, a keystone in Ar- be improved or a new system near Plaza de gentinian history, was not created naturally. Mayo should be built. The interests related The nearest natural anchorage is located in to the first option were promoted by the en- Ensenada. For this reason, when the north- gineer Luis Huergo, the traders, the citizens ern channel of the Riachuelo was blocked of the south of the city, and the newspaper (mid 18th century), new anchoring spots La Prensa. The ones related to the second were needed. These were found throughout alternative were promoted by the trader the coast in places named by the sailors as Eduardo Madero, members of the national “potholes”, were the river was deeper. La government, retailers, foreign businessmen Merced, San Francisco and Santo Domingo of the city and the newspaper La Nación. ended on this river. When big ships came to By then, Huergo had already inaugurated a the city, they had to anchor here. The most pier in the left margin of Vuelta de Rocha, complicated part came afterwards: carrying where the transatlantic L´Italia was held up, the passengers and the merchandise in mo- the first of this type that came to Buenos Ai- torboats and wagons. res. There were many projects of this kind. In 1795, the Real Consulate ordered the Among them, that of the English engineer Galician engineer Pedro Antonio Cerviño John La Trobe Bateman, who came to the the construction of a pier near Pozo de la country to lead the construction works of Merced. This construction work began in the port. In 1871, he had planned a dock that 1799 but the Crown of Spain ordered its in- would be set up near today´s Puerto Madero. terruption. In 1802, a small pier designed by This project was never fulfilled. Martín Boneo was built here. It came to an The project that was finally executed was end in 1817, and demolished in the 1820s. The the one in Madero: a port in the shape of latter was the only existing pier until the beads in the eastern side of Plaza de Mayo. Passenger Pier was built in 1855. It was 200 It capitalized the railway system and it meters long and it reached Puerto Madero. was profitable regarding British interests. This avoided the tedious disembarkation A number of credits were taken to build it. described previously: moving the passengers The work, which began in 1887, finally came from the motorboats to the wagons. to an end in 1898 after the Northern Canal was authorized. It included the construc- tion of four docks, two harbors (one on the View of Buenos Aires from the river, Bramblia, 1794. north and another on the south) with two canals and 16 docks or warehouses which were built following an English functional architecture. Furthermore, 3 million square feet were taken from the river. The Dársena Norte became a real neuralgic center, where the most important installations took place: it was a historical place. It is believed that towards June 11th, 1826, the Combate de los Pozos took place in this area during the war with the Empire of Brazil. The hydroplane Plus Ultra landed 100 years later. This plane carried out the first flight between Spain and America. In the beginning of the 20th century, Puerto Madero became obsolete and, in 1907, the construction of an extension in the shape of a comb was authorized. Huer- go had considered this. These works began in 1911 and came to an end in 1919 with the construction of five harbors. It was baptized General Project for a port of Buenos Aires as Puerto Nuevo (New Port). In 1925, it was by Dr. Luis Huergo. authorized completely and it was the most important port of the southern hemisphere. By then, the Municipal Bathing Area opened transformed the old stores into fast-food in Costanera Sur. It was one of the coolest restaurants, offices and lofts with incredible spots for the porteños until the 1970s, when views to the river. In the east, a number of the Municipality prohibited swimming in exclusive skyscrapers were built. This is how the waters due to its contamination. There the new face of the city was finally built with were many emblematic buildings, such as the last but one neighborhood of the city, Cervecería Munich (today Humor Museum), which was officially created following a -By which opened in 1927. In the 1970s, the proj- law on December 5th, 1996. ect “Broadening of the Central Area” began and it was aimed at creating a satellite city in front of the Costanera. It wasn´t successful but, after the pieces of land arose, a Nature Reserve was created. This project came to an end with the construction of two motor- ways: 25 de Mayo and Perito Moreno. The 350 hectares taken from the river were part of this as well. It was officially created by the Consejo Deliberante (Deliberative Board) in 1986. With time, Puerto Madero became an abandoned place. For this reason, the Cor- poración Antiguo Puerto Madero S.A. was created in 1986 to recover and urbanize the area. It was a public corporation constituted by the National Government and the Mu- nicipality of Buenos Aires. Afterwards, 170 hectares were transferred. These belonged to the Administración General de Puertos, Ferrocarriles Argentinos and Junta Nacional de Granos. The Municipality took on its ad- ministration and decided to urbanize it. The Construction works on the port. Dock 2. recovery works began in 1992. This project Rimathé, 1890. Timeline 1799 Pier of Cerviño. 1826 Combate de Los Pozos. 1855 Passenger Pier. 1887 Construction works of Puerto Madero. Opening of Dársena Sur. 1889 Pier, Benito Panunzi, ca. 1867. 1898 End of construction works of Puerto Madero. 1918 Opening of the Municipal Bathing Area. 1925 Puerto Madero stands idle. 1926 The Plus Ultra lands on Dársena Norte. 1927 Opening of Cervecería Munich. 1970 Contamination of the Bathing Area. 1986 Creation of the Nature Reserve. Landing of Plus Ultra. 1989 Corporación Antiguo Puerto Madero S.A. 1992 Recovery works of Puerto Madero. 1996 Creation of the neighborhood Puerto Madero. 15 Did you know that…? …the Streetcar of the East was a tram line that operated in the neighborhood between 2007 Streets in Puerto Madero and 2012? Most of the streets of Puerto Madero are …Puerto Madero Station of the FC Sarmiento named after women. The first bylaw that (Railway) operated for a short period of time named them takes back to 1995. Then, it as a passenger train? was completed with other names. …“open-top buses” were long vehicles which took the citizens to the Bathing Area during Cossettini, Olga (1897-1987), teacher and the weekends? pedagogue. Dealessi, Pierina (1894-1983), actress. …the successful film “Nueve Reinas” (2000) De la Barra, Emma (1860 or 1861-1947), wri- was shot at the Hilton Hotel (Macacha ter. Güemes 351)? Eyle, Petrona (1866-1945), doctor and femi- …the Monumental Fountain Las Nereidas, nist. created by the sculptor Lola Mora, used to be Ezcurra, Encarnación (1795-1838), politician, located in today´s Av. Leandro N. Alem and Juan Manuel de Rosas´s wife. Gorritti, Juana Manuela (1818-1892), writer. Perón? Grierson, Cecilia (1859-1934), first Argenti- …the corvette ARA Uruguay led the famous nian doctor. rescue of Otto Nordenskjöld´s Antarctic ex- Güemes, Macacha (1776-1866), patriot, Mar- pedition in 1903? tín Miguel de Güemes´s sister. …the most important archaeological discov- Guevara, Trinidad (1798-1873), Uruguayan ery of the city took place in 2008 when a actress. Langer, Marie (1910-1987), psychologist and Spanish merchant ship (Pecio Zencity) was psychoanalyst. discovered in Puerto Madero? Lanteri, Julieta (1873-1932), doctor, politician …the statue of Luis Viale pays tribute to an and feminist. Italian trader which had an heroic participa- Lorenzini, Carola (1899-1941), aviator. tion in the shipwreck of the steamship Amer- Lynch, Marta (1925-1985), writer. ica in 1871? Maizani, Azucena (1902-1970), singer. Manso, Juana (1819-1875), writer, translator, …the day to celebrate this neighborhood is on journalist, teacher and feminist. March 8th, on International Women´s Day? Mora, Lola (1866-1936), sculptor. …Yacht Club Argentino, the Reproductions Moreau de Justo, Alicia (1885-1986), doctor Museum and the Monument to Spain are not and politician. located within the official limits of this neigh- Ocampo, Victoria (1890-1979), writer, trans- borhood? lator and editor. O’Gorman, Camila (1825-1848), major figure of a tragic love story. Pacini de Alvear, Regina (1871-1965), lyrical soprano. Painé, Aimé (1943-1987), singer. Exit of the tunnel of FC del Oeste. Rawson de Dellepiane, Elvira (1865-1954), doctor and feminist.