Top 10 Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires’ Top 10
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Left Canal 7 Center Biblioteca Nacional Right Automóvil Club Argentina
Striking Buildings
! The Kavanagh
An Art Deco sentinel, the
Kavanagh is one of Buenos
Aires’ most exclusive addresses.
It was also the continent’s
tallest building when it was
completed in 1936. Its triangular
shape, cleaving two streets, is a
rarity among existing examples
of the form. d Map Q5 • Calle
Florida 1065
Palacio de las @ Aguas Corrientes
This Victorian palace is one of
Buenos Aires’ most fun
museums, filled with brass faucets,
toilets, and other early
20th-century plumbing relics. The
Córdoba entrance has terracotta
vegetable motifs. d Map N5
• Calle Riobamba 750 • 6319-1104
• Free guided tours (Spanish): 11am Mon,
Wed, and Fri
£ Palacio Barolo
A richly symbolic building,
Palacio Barolo riffs on Dante’s
Divine Comedy in its 328-ft
(100-m) height, which matches
the number of cantos. Its 22
stories match the number of
verses in most cantos. The lobby
arcade has dragon heads and
hellfire motifs (see p14).
$ Biblioteca Nacional
Palermo Chico’s biggest
architectural achievement is
Argentina’s main library. The
three-million-volume institution
was completed in 1992, three
decades after work on it began.
Bring along a photo ID to ascend
to the building’s reading area,
which offers staggering views.
d Map N3 • Plaza Rubén Dário, Calle
Agüero 2502 • 4808-6000 • Open 9am–
9pm Mon–Fri; noon–7pm Sat–Sun
• www.bn.gov.ar
% Banco Hipotecario
Nacional
This is the most confounding
façade in the city. The drape of
Swiss-cheese concrete is
actually a faithful representation
of early 1960s Rationalist design.
d Map Q6 • Calle Reconquista 101
Confitería El Molino ^ Opposite Congress sits this
elegant relic of Buenos Aires’
café culture, regrettably closed
since the 1990s. Named for its
Moulin Rouge-style windmill
turret, El Molino was also a
Palacio Barolo