PALACIO BAROLO

WELCOME TO THE BAROLO PALACE!

YOU WILL TOUR SOME AREAS OF THIS HISTORIC BUILDING WITH ARCHITECT FERNANDO CARRAL.

ARCHITECT FERNANDO WAS IN CHARGE OF RESTORING THE LIGHTHOUSE AFTER MORE THAN 40 YEARS OF DISCONTINUITY.

THE PALACE LIGHTHOUSE IS THE ONLY ACTIVE LIGHTHOUSE IN THE CITY. IT IS NOT A MARITIME LIGHTHOUSE BUT A LIGHTHOUSE THAT ANNOUNCED NEWS. BUT LET'S NOT GET AHEAD OF OURSELVES; THERE'S STILL 100 METERS TO CLIMB!

SOME THINGS FERNANDO SHARES DURING THE TOUR:

STARTING IN THE HALL:

THE BUILDING IS 102 YEARS OLD. It was commissioned by Luigi Barolo from the architect Mario Palanti.

Barolo was an important Italian businessman and a pioneer in the importation of textile spinning machines, with which he amassed a fortune, securing agreements to send blankets during the First World War.

This building was a way for him to leave his mark on history and also a significant investment, as it housed 400 offices occupied by lawyers, accountants, doctors, and many more.

Mario Palanti, who came to Buenos Aires as a collaborator in the construction of the Italian stand at the first World's Fair in Argentina, commemorating the centenary of its independence.

It took only four years to complete the building. This record time was achieved thanks to Palanti's innovative approach to construction. He not only used what was called "liquid stone," a new technology now known as reinforced concrete, but also hollow brick, a novel material at the time that facilitated large-scale transport and was significantly lighter.

All the shapes you see—the columns, the arches in the ceilings, and everything else—were built with hollow brick. Palanti also patented his own brick, the "Palandomus," called hermaphrodite because of the way it interlocks on both sides.

The circles you see on the floor are called dormers; they are single pieces of cast bronze brought from Italy and allow light to enter the basement. They came with replacement panes of glass in three different sizes.

The grand entrance to the palace was once completely open, without any enclosures. For this reason, its original name is "Pasaje Barolo," and it was a way of incorporating the building's luxury into the city, as any citizen could pass through and feel a part of the building.

By the 1960s, a partial enclosure of glass bricks was installed, which blocked sunlight and, due to the dirt it accumulated, made the hall quite dark.

It currently has a complete enclosure that has the unique feature of following the shape of the entrance without touching the walls; that is, it protects it without touching it. For this reason, it received an award, which is mentioned at the entrance.

Fernando tells the story of the hall tiles, which have a different sheen. This is because there used to be a newsstand that cast a shadow. When the newsstand was removed after 55 years, some of the tiles began to crack.

"PANERA ROSA" CAFE BAR:

FORMERLY A CAR DEALERSHIP, WHICH IS WHY THE ENTRANCE IS NOT ORIGINAL, UNLIKE THE ENTRANCE ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE. YOU CAN APPRECIATE THE ORIGINAL CURVED WINDOWS.

LATER, THE CAR DEALERSHIP WAS PURCHASED BY A BANK, AND AS IS COMMON WITH BANKS, THEY REMOVED ALL THE ORIGINAL PINE FLOOR AND A LARGE PART OF THE CEILING.

THE CEILING YOU SEE TODAY IS A FALSE ONE.

INTERESTINGLY, THEY LEFT A SMALL PIECE OF THE ORIGINAL CEILING, WHICH WAS USED AFTER THE BANK LEFT TO MAKE MOLDS FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION. On those roofs, they found a box with a message to the future from the plasterer who built it in the 1920s, containing a beret, a pipe, coins, and the letter to the future.

STREET:

On Fernando Street, he often recounts how he used to come here when he was five years old to play with the skylights. On the corner where "Mostaza" is today, there was a shop that sold a liquid called Ferroquina Bislera, which was "The Lion of Aperitifs." It was advertised with a real stuffed lion displayed behind glass. All the children were amazed, as they had never seen a lion so close up.

Years later, Fernando found that lion, which a friend had kept safe and which at that time was on display at the City Museum.

Returning to the Barolo Palace, it was highly controversial in its time because there was a law prohibiting construction above 25 meters, and the palace far exceeded that limit. Previously, Avenida de Mayo didn't exist; it was just the chicken coops of the houses that stood there. The blocks were cut off to build what would become the city's most important avenue, connecting the Casa Rosada (Presidential Palace) with the new Congress building.

He also mentions that the Hotel Majestic was on the corner, where Cortázar, Queen Elizabeth I, and others lived, among others. And the Hotel Chile, which is across the street with its onion-shaped dome.

He also points out the building opposite, which displays various sculptures and Argentine flags. It was the former "Diario Crítica," a very powerful newspaper in its time, featuring writers of the stature of Jorge Luis Borges and Roberto Arlt.

He always asks if the building appears symmetrical, and then shows that it is actually built at an angle, revealing a strange unevenness in the tiles.

Masonic Symbols: Palanti and Barolo were Freemasons, and as such, when constructing the building, they incorporated several Masonic symbols, such as the checkerboard floor, which symbolizes good and evil, dualities; also, the elevator floor indicator, which ends in a fleur-de-lis shape, and the "A" in "Ascensor" (elevator), which is a Masonic compass. Furthermore, all Masonic buildings must have water beneath them, and this is also true because a piped river flows beneath the Barolo building, emptying into the Río de la Plata, and also passing by the Teatro Colón, the Courts Building, and several other structures. Masonic buildings are also found throughout the city.

Third-floor balcony: It displays planters that once held hanging plants and an irrigation system that watered all four when a tap was opened.

On one of the columns is the lid of an old incinerator. A few months ago, Fernando and his assistant Juan had to go inside to install some cables and found a lot of old junk, such as newspapers from 1923, letters, original cigarette packs, catalogs of antique appliances, sardine tins from Portugal and Spain, and even a price list for sending telegrams to any country.

Finally, he also asks how the top lightbulb was changed, and then tells the story of a Paraguayan worker, who had no fear of heights, who would go with a plank and a ladder, with the void below, and change it without any problems. He says the best quote about the building was from him: “Building it is nothing, the difficult part is imagining it.”

Terrace: First, we go to the back to appreciate a little-known view: the rear facade. This facade was mentioned by the Italian Embassy as a tribute to immigration, as it resembles an immigrant ship from the late 1700s. We see some important domes, such as... The one belonging to the Congress or Capitol building, the one above the "El Molino" café, and the red one visible nearby, belonging to the "La Inmobiliaria" building.

The domes you see bear the names of the apostles; there are twelve throughout the building. Originally, they were taller and more Gothic in style, matching the main dome designed by Palanti, but when he was prohibited from exceeding that height, he demolished the four domes you see and rebuilt them in the form we see today.

At that moment, Fernando leaves, and Juan stays, showing the Ministry of Public Works building, where the figure of Eva Perón is displayed, which young people now recognize as "the woman eating a hamburger." This building is quite unique; it has the first radio broadcasting antenna in Latin America and also includes something very strange: the only sculpture in the world dedicated to bribery. This is odd because the building is in a rationalist style, meaning it doesn't usually include moldings or sculptures, but this one does, denouncing the pressure its architect faced to prevent its construction. Explain the relationship of the Barolo Palace to the Divine Comedy, which served as a tribute to Dante Alighieri's novel. Some points worth mentioning:

Three-Part Structure: Both works are divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Cielo. Inferno is the hall with the dragons and serpents, whose circular ceilings, nine in total, mirror the circles of Hell in the novel. Purgatorio comprises the following 14 floors (two for each level of Purgatorio, resulting in the same seven levels as in the novel). Palanti built it this way to reach a height of 100 meters because... The Divine Comedy comprises 100 cantos. These minimalist floors, devoid of embellishments, invite an inward gaze as we ascend. This ascent is marked by the ever-increasing presence of light in the common areas, a light that grows more pronounced with each step upward. The sky represents God, with its beacon of illumination.

Both the Divine Comedy and the Barolo Palace represent a symbolic journey of spiritual ascent.

Italian Influence: Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine Comedy, and Mario Palanti, architect of the Barolo Palace, were of Italian origin, reflecting Italy's cultural influence on the project. BOTH WORKS.

CULTURAL LEGACY: BOTH WORKS ARE PART OF THE RICH CULTURAL LEGACY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE REGIONS AND HAVE INFLUENCED CULTURE AND ART WORLDWIDE.

Both the Divine Comedy and the Barolo Palace offer a profound and multifaceted vision of the human experience, addressing universal themes such as suffering, redemption, and hope.

At the lighthouse, Fernando recounts how he restored it with meticulous attention to detail, but essentially it was a huge undertaking since no one knew how to restore such an old lighthouse, and it was very difficult to take it down to have the mirror repolished.

Thank you very much for your visit. The building receives no subsidies of any kind and is kept alive thanks to its visitors!

PS: ADD FER Y A JUAN ON INSTAGRAM,
@CARRAL.F
@juan_xiet
HE'LL BE VERY HAPPY =)