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Thearchitecture ofArgentina can be said to start at the beginning of theSpanish colonisation, though it was in the 18th century that the cities of the country reached their splendour. Cities likeCórdoba,Salta,Mendoza, and alsoBuenos Aires conserved most their historicalSpanish colonial architecture in spite of their urban growth.
The simplicity of theRioplatenseBaroque style can be clearly appreciated in Buenos Aires, in the works of Italian architects such as André Blanqui and Antonio Masella, in the churches ofSan Ignacio,Nuestra Señora del Pilar, theCathedral and theCabildo.
Italian and French influences increased after thewars for independence at the beginning of the 19th century, though the academic style persisted until the first decades of the 20th century. Attempts at renovation took place during the second half of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th, when the European tendencies penetrated into the country, reflected in numerous important buildings of Buenos Aires, such as the Santa Felicitas Church by Ernesto Bunge; theCentral Post Office thePalace of Justice, byNorbert Maillart; theNational Congress byVittorio Meano and theColón Opera House, byFrancesco Tamburini and hundreds more, including churches, mansions or palaces, schools, theaters and government buildings.
A number of young Italian architects, includingVirginio Colombo,[1]Francisco Gianotti andMario Palanti who designed the Italian pavilion for theExposición Internacional del Centenario (1910), went on to establish successful careers in Buenos Aires working in a number of styles, includingArt Nouveau. Their buildings were some of the most important of the 20th century in Buenos Aires and those that remain continue to play a significant role in defining the city's architectural landscape.
The architecture of the second half of the 20th century continued adapting Frenchneoclassical architecture, such as the headquarters of theNational Bank of Argentina and theNH Gran Hotel Provincial, built byAlejandro Bustillo, and theMuseo de Arte Hispano Fernández Blanco, by Martín Noel.
However, after the early 1930s, the influence ofRationalist architecture and ofLe Corbusier became dominant among local architects, among whomAlberto Prebisch andAmancio Williams stand out in this new vein. The construction ofskyscrapers proliferated in Buenos Aires after 1950, though a new generation started rejecting their "brutality," and tried to find an architectonic identity.
This search for identity is reflected in theBanco de Londres building finished in 1967 byClorindo Testa with Diego Peralta Ramos, Alfredo Agostini, and Santiago Sánchez Elía. In the following decades, the new generations of architects incorporate, as always, European vanguardist styles, and new techniques.
Since the latter part of the 20th century, Argentine architects have become more prominent in the design of prime real estate projects in the country, such as theLe Parc tower andTorre Aqualina, byMario Roberto Álvarez, and the Torre Fortabat by Sánchez Elía, as well as around the world, most notably theNorwest Center and thePetronas Towers, both byCésar Pelli.
Argentine neighborhoods are characterized by highly independent designs for each building. Most houses have individual designs.Tract housing is near to non-existent, generally reserved for subsidized houses made by the state for the poorest.
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