| Work Detail |
The Palais de Glace1 or National Palace of the Arts is an exhibition center located in the Recoleta neighborhood of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is currently the institutional space par excellence of the National State for the exhibition of Argentine art and headquarters of the National Hall of Visual Arts. History Inaugurated in 1910, the building was built by José R. Rey y Besadre on land ceded by the Municipality. The original activities for which the Palais de Glace was designed were ice skating and social club. These responded to the fashionable entertainment of the Buenos Aires high bourgeoisie of the moment, who had a lifestyle, customs and hobbies with a marked European trait. The circular ice rink was 21 meters in diameter, occupying the central hall naturally lit through a large skylight located in a dome on its vaulted ceiling. Around it were boxes and stands and on the first floor there were more boxes, a confectionery and an organ. In the basement of it, the machines that manufactured the ice to supply the rink were installed.2 The building originally had a circular floor plan raised half a level above the ground, with its entrances framed by classical columns and crowned with mansard roofs. Around 1912 the building was bought by the Swiss consul, Baron Antonio Demarchi, son-in-law of President Julio Argentino Roca, who converted it into a ballroom, adding an oak floor. In the same Demarchi organized an event that marked a milestone in the history of tango, with an orchestra led by Genaro Espósito and Enrique Saborino as dancer, to demonstrate that tango was not an obscene dance as its critics claimed.3 After this event the Palais de Glace became the place where high society gathered for tango events. Many of the great tango orchestras of the 1920s passed through the hall, such as those of Francisco Canaro, Roberto Firpo and Julio De Caro. In 1930 the concession contract ends and due to a plan to remodel buildings in the City of Buenos Aires, the Municipality transfers it to the Ministry of Education and Justice to be the new building of the National Directorate of Fine Arts, which was previously located in the Argentine Pavilion and was demolished to build the Plaza San Martin. From 1932 to 1954, the National Hall of Fine Arts and Plastic Arts was held there. The building was remodeled by the architect Alejandro Bustillo to fulfill this new function. Between 1932 and 1935, the remodeling was carried out, which consisted of, respecting the original structure of the architectural proposal, transforming the circular room into an exhibition hall, taking advantage of the roundabouts for exhibition rooms.4 In 1934, three large murals were created inside, representing the fine arts and Argentine crafts. In 1940, Bustillo intervenes the building again, affecting its exterior language. The columns that framed the main access porch and the two domes of the roof were removed, some windows were replaced and the building was stripped of the balconies and all the ornamentation.5 In 1954 it became an annex to the central studios of channel 7 and the National Hall had to be transferred to the National Museum of Buenos Aires and to the Congress until 1960, when it became the headquarters of the National Hall again and of the National Exhibition Halls. In 1980 the building underwent another intervention, this time by Clorindo Testa, generating a mezzanine in its central space that occupies 80% of the surface and recovering the dome that illuminates the central space from above. In 2004 a decree of the National Executive Power declared this building as a national historical heritage. In 2012 it received recognition by the Konex Foundation for its contribution to the Visual Arts of Argentina. It is currently the institutional space par excellence of the National State for the exhibition of Argentine art and headquarters of the National Hall of Visual Arts, the most important contest in the country that awards prizes in painting, sculpture, drawing, engraving, ceramics, textile art, photography and new supports and installations. The Palais has a heritage of around a thousand works.7 PALAIS DE GLACE – RESTORATION, ENHANCEMENT AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADAPTATION OF THE INTERIOR, ADAPTING IT TO THE NEW REGULATIONS, OF THE SANITARY, FIRE-FIGHTING, ELECTRICAL AND AIR-CONDITIONING FACILITIES AND OF THE EXTERIOR ENVELOPE OF THE BUILDING More Info Print version Type of Work: Architectural works Client: MINISTRY OF PUBLIC WORKS Tender No.: 501-0012-LPU22 Place: City of Buenos Aires Opening date: 08/03/2022 at 02:00 PM Official budget: $817,430,540.82 |
