Florida Street
Florida Street (
The
Florida is one of the city's leading
History
The beginnings of Florida Street date back to the founding of Buenos Aires in 1580, when it was hewn as a primitive path uphill from the banks of the
The
The Civic Youth Union, was organized in 1889 at the intersection with the Avenida Córdoba. This organization would foment the Revolution of the Park in 1890, and from its ranks the Radical Civic Union (to whom six presidents would later belong during the twentieth century) would be established in 1891.
A
The city's middle and upper classes would later relocate further north, to
The economic crisis of the 1980s precluded any recovery, however. Nor did the street benefit from a consumer boom during the 1990s, as this was largely diverted toward a series of new shopping malls opened in the city's north side. Galerías Pacífico was renovated and reopened in 1991, though Harrods Buenos Aires, which by then operated only on the ground floor, would close in 1998. Mayor Fernando de la Rúa had the textured concrete pavers along Florida replaced in 1999 with granite tiles laid in a decorative black-and-white pattern.
Commerce along the street was afflicted in the ensuing years by proliferating
Highlights
Rivadavia Avenue to Perón Street
Florida Street begins at its southern end on
One of the most iconic locations in Buenos Aires is the intersections of Florida Street and
Two important
Perón Street to Lavalle Street
The 200 block features the former Grand Florida Cinema (1925), created in an eclectic Art Deco design by Jorge Kálnay. The corner of Perón Street is overlooked by the Plateresque former Banco Popular Argentino (1931), today the headquarters of HSBC Bank Argentina. The corner of Sarmiento Street is the site of the Bank of the City of Buenos Aires headquarters since 1968, located in a building originally opened in 1908 as the Mexico City Store.
The 300 block includes the oldest existing bookstore of El Ateneo chain (one of two on Florida Street); founded in 1912, the booksellers opened their first Florida Street store in 1936. Facing El Ateneo is the former headquarters of
The Julio Peña residence (1917), today the headquarters of the
Lavalle Street to Córdoba Avenue
The 500 block was the site of the Jockey Club, designed by Manuel Turner and completed in 1897. Founded in 1882 by future President
An Art Deco office building on the northwest corner of Tucumán Street and the
The renowned Galerías Pacífico shopping arcade occupies nearly the entire block along the eastern side of the 700 block. The monumental building, designed by Roland le Vacher in 1888 to house the Au Bon Marché shops, also housed the National Museum of Fine Arts from 1896 to 1910, and thereafter the head office of the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway; restored in 1991, its grand interiors also feature ceiling frescoes by Antonio Berni, Juan Carlos Castagnino, and other famed Argentine painters.
Córdoba Avenue to Plaza San Martín
The junction with
The Cultural Center of Spain in Buenos Aires (CCEB) is located on the 900 block. This block, however, is best known locally as the erstwhile site of the Torcuato di Tella Institute. Located on Florida Street during its heyday between 1963 and 1970, the institute was led at the time by former National Fine Arts Museum director Jorge Romero Brest, who steered the center as the leading Argentine venue for pop art, experimental theatre, and conceptual art, drawing artists such as León Ferrari, Gyula Kosice, Luis Felipe Noé, and Antonio Seguí. Romero Brest also promoted the center's famed Happenings, notably those of Marta Minujín, whose interactive displays and mazes helped make this block of Florida Street Buenos Aires' mazana loca (city block of madness).
The street continues into the Juvenilia Esplanade, centered around a memorial to writer
Florida Street becomes San Martín Street one block south of
Transportation
The preferable means of transportation to reach Florida Street from almost anywhere in the city, is the
The Retiro transportation hub, which maintains a
See also
- Florida group
- Tourism in Buenos Aires
- Obelisk of Buenos Aires
- Teatro Colón
- Tourism in Argentina
- List of upscale shopping districts
References
- ^ (in Spanish) Calle Florida History: www.buenosaires.com Archived 2011-07-08 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Desalojaron a manteros de Florida y cortaron Corrientes para protestar". Ámbito Financiero.
- ^ "Los locales más buscados y más caros son los de Florida". La Nación.
- ^ Goni, Uki (August 21, 2011). "Legendary Buenos Aires cafe to make way for Nike shop". The Guardian. London.
- ^ "La calle de los cines se queda sin luces". La Nación. Archived from the original on 2012-03-13. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
- ^ "El Kavanagh y sus 70 años de historias". La Nación. Archived from the original on 2011-02-21. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
External links
- Florida Street
- Welcome to CalleFloridaStreet.com