Comuna 1
Constitución
During the first years of life of Buenos Aires, this neighborhood was a remote place and a transit area towards the south of the countryside. At the end of the 18th century, the Bethlemite fathers founded, on the grounds of what until recently was Rawson Hospital, a hospital that they called Convalescence. In the first years of the 19th century, the need was seen to move the concentrations of carts away from the city center, and this is how in 1821 the Plaza de la Concepción was designated to fulfill that function. This square, which disappeared when Av. 9 de Julio opened, where it was located at the intersection with Av. Independencia, thus became the city's new fruit market. Years later, the Concepción market offered a sad image.
This situation gave rise to the birth of various projects aimed at moving it further south. In 1857, at the suggestion of Governor Pastor Obligado, the Mercado del Sur del Alto was installed on the municipal land limited by Cochabamba, Salta and Buen Orden streets (Bernardo de Irigoyen). Shortly after, the new market received the name Constitución.
On August 14, 1865, the first stage of the Southern Railway was opened to the public, which left from the original Constitución station, and which by the end of that year had already reached Chascomús.
The railroad brought about the disappearance of the old carts. Buenos Aires was already federalized, Mayor Torcuato de Alvear proposed to transform the market into a plaza, and that is how in 1884, the eastern sector of it became a promenade, while the opposite one remained fulfilling its former function.
On October 30, 1892, Constitución Square was opened to the public in its entirety. Shortly before, on January 1, 1887, the Ferrocarril del Sud had inaugurated a luxurious station for the time, which totally transformed the appearance of the area. The station would undergo reconstructions and expansions over the years, until it was transformed into the monumental building that we currently see and where thousands of passengers parade.
Montserrat
This neighborhood was “formally” born in 1972 and is located in the historic center of the City. It was proud to be the scene of the founding of Trinidad, the current Buenos Aires, on June 11, 1580, when Juan de Garay and a few dozen settlers arrived from Asunción and Santa Fe. That act in which Garay in front of the Rollo of Justice (the trunk of a tree) and surrounded by the newcomers, announced the final installation, which took place in the most historic square of Montserrat and Argentina, the Plaza de Mayo.
Montserrat became such after the creation of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Montserrat, in 1755. On land located in the block of Belgrano, Lima, Moreno and Salta, it was decided to build the church. This had a lot of activity since many families lived in its surroundings. It was not the type of church attended by those who held any privileged economic position. For the favored, the usual churches were Santo Domingo, San Francisco, San Ignacio, La Catedral and La Merced.
The surroundings of the Church of Montserrat received a very popular nickname, they were called the tripe neighborhood, because the area had been occupied by blacks who had been dragged to those lands. They were very devoted to the Virgin Morenita of Montserrat and, at the same time, very fans of tripe, whose characteristic smell dominated several blocks.
Among the many peculiar customs of the area, a picturesque spectacle took place that became part of Buenos Aires traditions; on September 8, the procession of the Morena Virgin took place. Hundreds of blacks paraded behind the venerated image and very candomber percussions could be heard. That's how, in addition to calling it the tripe neighborhood, it was also called the drum neighborhood.
This neighborhood houses the most important square in Argentina, La Plaza de Mayo. Formerly they were two squares joined (or divided) by a recess that was demolished by the first mayor of the porteños, Torcuato de Alvear. One square was next to the fort, the other next to the Town Hall. In May 1883, Don Torcuato stormed the plaza with 100 men who mercilessly demolished the mass that marked the limit of the two plazas built 80 years earlier, in 1803. The task was accomplished in just over two days.
After the disappearance of the alcove, the works in the Plaza de Mayo moved like a chess piece. The statue of Manuel Belgrano, which was located more in the center, was placed in front of the main entrance of the Casa Rosada. The Pyramid of May was located in the center and the flowerbeds were reorganized. There was a project competition that offers seasonings for a rich story, but there are two that stand out. One promised to transform the Plaza de Mayo into a large pool where it would be possible to ride gondolas, it was a mini Venice in Buenos Aires. The other curious project was the one that considered that the Cabildo should be transformed into a ten-level hotel, of which the last three would be occupied by the building's historic tower, undoubtedly an unusual idea for the time.
The different buildings of varied styles that we can find in Montserrat gave the neighborhood a particular appeal. Nowadays, it represents a must-see tourist route for visitors who visit the City.
Puerto Madero
At the end of the 19th century, the need to create a port that connected Buenos Aires with Europe led Engineer Eduardo Madero to present his project. The plan consisted of the construction of four closed docks, interconnected by bridges, and two docks, north and south.
The construction of this port, approved by the then President Julio A. Roca, was carried out between 1900 and 1905. Sixteen reddish brick docks were built, clear exponents of English utilitarian architecture, which would be used as warehouses to store grain and other items. from exportation.
But due to the increase in merchandise traffic and the increase in passenger movement, around 1910 this port became insufficient.
Only in 1989 did the renovation of the old port begin with the State Reform Law and the creation of the Old Puerto Madero Corporation. And its main objective was to urbanize its 170 hectares and revalue the central area of the City.
This project consisted of the creation of a narrow strip of buildings located between the dikes, two large parks, wide boulevards, pedestrian walkways, and the construction of a varied number of towers.
Furthermore, in the design of the pedestrian promenade and the heads of the dams, original paving stones and sleepers were recovered, which give an emotional value to the area. Strategically placed old cranes were painted and illuminated, evoking the port spirit.
The old merchandise docks were also recycled, preserving their exposed brick fronts and cast iron beams to maintain their historical value.
The renovation of these sheds, lined up at regular intervals in front of the reflecting pools, gave elegance and identity to Puerto Madero.
In 1996, the second stage of the urbanization plan began, starting with the sale of plots and, in December of the same year, the Deliberative Council incorporated Puerto Madero as neighborhood number 47.
Retiro
In its beginnings, the Retiro neighborhood area was far from the city layout. At the end of the 17th century, the governor of Buenos Aires, Agustín de Robles, built a luxurious country house here which he called "El Retiro" and thus marked the beginning of the progressive urbanization of this district. Little by little, witness to important events in the life of the city, the Retiro neighborhood began to gain prominence.
At the end of the 19th century, the yellow fever epidemic that hit the city caused high society families, who until then lived south of the Plaza de Mayo, to begin moving to this area in search of healthier air.
Currently, the Retiro neighborhood is one of the most elegant in Buenos Aires. Its wide squares, its stately residences, its luxury hotels and its tall office buildings make up a mosaic where the present and the past of the city converge.
This area of Buenos Aires has been recognized with this name since the beginning of the 18th century. Its name comes from the Casa del Retiro, built at the beginning of this century at the intersection of the current Arenales and Maipú by the governor Agustín de Robles, very close to the hermitage of San Sebastián, existing there already in 1608. Shortly after the house It was sold to the Mar del Sur company, and its purpose was to house the slaves arriving in Buenos Aires.
In 1800, construction work on the Plaza de Toros began, the outline of which is still maintained in Plaza San Martín, on Santa Fe Avenue. During the English invasions, a memorable confrontation took place there, as a result of which the place received the name of Field of Glory. The grenadiers under the command of General José de San Martín also received instruction there, and the place began to have importance due to the barracks that displaced the bullring. From this, the site became known as Campo de Marte.
On July 13, 1862, the monument to the Liberator was inaugurated in the square, then acquiring the name of the Father of the Nation
San Nicolás
The name of this neighborhood goes back to the chapel of San Nicolás founded in 1733 by Don Domingo de Acasusso, on the corner of Carlos Pellegrini and Corrientes. In this church, on August 23, 1812, the national flag was raised for the first time in Buenos Aires, on the occasion of a religious service in thanksgiving for the failure of the Álzaga conspiracy.
The church of San Nicolás disappeared when Corrientes Street was widened, and in the same place the Obelisk was built, on one of whose faces the legend that remembers that event was engraved.
The neighborhood, due to its geographical location, is one of the oldest in Buenos Aires, and inside it includes Plaza Lavalle, known as the Hueco de Zamudio, due to a neighboring villa. The place was intended for military exercises, becoming known as Plaza de Armas.
The Artillery Park, built where the Courts building dating from 1910 is today, was given the name Park Square, until finally, by Ordinance of September 16, 1878, it acquired its definitive name.
In front of it, on the site of the current Teatro Colón, inaugurated on May 25, 1908, was the Parque Station. From there, on August 29, 1857, the first Argentine train pulled by the famous La Porteña locomotive left on its first trip to Floresta.
San Telmo
En sus orígenes, la zona fue poblándose con los trabajadores portuarios, y se encontraba fuera del muy reducido casco urbano, limitado a los alrededores de la Plaza de Mayo.
En 1748, en un terreno donado por el vecino Don Ignacio Bustillo y Zeballos, la orden de los jesuitas comenzó la construcción de la Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Belén, junto a la cual se instaló la Casa de Ejercicios Espirituales. Por esta última, comenzó a ser conocido como el barrio de la Residencia.
Cuando en 1767 los jesuitas fueron expulsados de América por el Reino de España, los betlemitas se hicieron cargo del templo en 1785, y la Residencia comenzó a ser usada como cárcel.
En 1806 se creó la Parroquia de San Pedro González Telmo, designándose a la iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Belén como sede de la misma hasta tanto se erigiera el templo cabecera, cosa que nunca se realizó. Nuestra Señora de Belén fue concluida en 1876, y la costumbre ha hecho ignorar su verdadera denominación, perpetuando en cambio la de Iglesia de San Telmo.
En un hueco situado sobre la calle Defensa, se estableció a fines del siglo XVIII un lugar de parada para los carros que provenían con mercaderías desde el Riachuelo, tal parada era conocida como el Hueco del Alto o el Alto de las Carretas. La plaza fue nombrada del Comercio en 1822, y en la década de 1860 se estableció en el antiguo hueco el Mercado, que permaneció hasta que en 1897 se inauguró el aún existente Mercado San Telmo. Poco después, la plaza fue llamada Coronel Dorrego.
