Out With The Old...

A nearby home soon to be a tower

As both Cintra and I have noted before (and everybody who lives here knows without reminder), Buenos Aires is going through a building boom that feels more like an erasure of the past than an improving of living conditions. As opposed to cities like Portland, Oregon, where clearly defined land-use and zoning policies lead to a lot of renovation of old buildings and backfill of empty lots, Buenos Aires has opted for a simpler plan: Out with the old and in with the new.

Since we've moved to our PH in Palermo, at least four beautiful, albeit battered, old buildings have been sold. One has already been knocked down and replaced with a seven-floor anono-tower. Another two more are set to be demolished soon. So when I saw the signs for a auction of the interior finishings in the above building, I had to go.

It was a dive into Buenos Aires's wonderful, decrepit past, replete with all the flourishes--the wood boiserie, the soaring staircase, the pinotea and black-and-white tile floors--that one expects in classic cafes and the like. But these details were being sold to the highest bidder and a herd of house remodelers, architects and mere hangers on (i.e. me) follwed around the auctioneer as he went lot to lot. A friend of mine bought the boiserie (left) for 750 pesos, the whole stairwell (below right) went for 1,300. And the bathroom above? Who knows, but it's a pure period piece.

The house had seen better days--much better days--but it will be sad to see it drop. While I understand capital's inexorable march, I like to hope against hope that conserving the past could win out against making a buck, at least once in a while. One can only hope that the tower that replaces it will be interesting. I'm sad to say that judging from the other buildings around I expect to be disappointed.