Four historic buildings in Mar del Plata to discover while doing something else

Four historic buildings in Mar del Plata to discover while doing something else

History: Its first owner was Francisca Ocampo de Ocampo, Victoria’s great-aunt and godmother. She was bought in England from the Boulton & Paul company and brought by ship, unarmed. We could say that it was a forerunner of what we know today as steel framing or, more colloquially, a prefabricated house.

Originally, the property had twice the area of ​​the hectare that today contains the main house, in English style, the house for the caretakers, in French style, and the house for the service personnel, in Italian style.

In the 1920s it passed into the hands of Victoria and was a meeting place for her friends from all over the world. Later, the writer decided to donate it as heritage to UNESCO but, upon her death, the agency auctioned it off. It was acquired by the Municipality of General Pueyrredón in 1981 and from that date it became the Victoria Ocampo Cultural Center (CCVO).

What to do while you meet her?: In addition to the Victoria Diversa exhibition, which is shown during CCVO hours, there are different options depending on the day. On Wednesday, February 23, Avelina’s Memories is presented, a way of getting to know the house, its history and Victoria’s life through her former housekeeper. Admission is $300.

There are also plays, tributes to Argentine bands, talks, themed parades and musical shows. These activities have different fees.

The Monk’s Tower

In 1904 the viewpoint financed by Ernesto Tornquist, who used to spend the summer in Mar del Plata, was inaugurated. He is also credited with a legend about the building that adds mystery to the story of its creation. Expanded in 1927 and restored in 1979, it was declared an Asset of Patrimonial Interest. In 2003 the pedestrian bridge, demolished years before, managed to be rebuilt. In addition to the confectionery, it currently has spaces for events, a parador and a beach club.

History: Legend has it that during the construction of the viewpoint, a chest was found containing a manuscript from 1695 that revealed that a priest of the order of Los Calvos, named Ernesto Tornero (and with a certain resemblance to the Torreón ideologue), had built there a stronghold. The legend tells of the romance between Alvar, custodian of the tower, and an Indian woman from the reduction of the current Sierra de los Padres called Mariña. After attacks and assaults on the building by the cacique Rucamará, the love ends with the death of the young woman. From that moment until his death, Alvar became a monk and lived locked up in the tower.

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The morphology of the building designed by Tornquist was combined with the mysterious air generated by the legend. Its medieval style refers to European fortresses and castles, although it was much smaller in its original design. In 1927 the extension began, which was inaugurated two years later under the name of Torre Pueyrredón. In one of the military coups it was taken over as the headquarters of the Circle of Officers of the Mar del Plata Navy and in 1979 the businessman Domingo Parato began to work on its enhancement and the construction of two breakwaters to achieve a beach where then there were only rocks. In 2003, the Torreón concessionaire rebuilt the pedestrian bridge over Paseo Jesús de Galíndez with a style similar to the original. In 2017 the Parador Sur was inaugurated and in 2018, the Beach Club.

What to do while you meet him?: At the beginning of January, Mar de Cartas was inaugurated, a free sample that exhibits letters, telegrams and postcards throughout the season that tell the history of the city and retrieve stories from personalities and vacationers in different formats (screens, audios with letters read by their protagonists and mural of postcards to look at and read). The material is part of the compilation work of the Epistolary Documentation Center.

“The archive already had the material for the exhibition. What we undertook was the curatorship of the exhibition based on a timeline that narrates the most relevant social and political events from the founding of the city to the present day and recurring themes in the letters that left and arrived in Mar del Plata: love and heartbreak, vacations, immigration, among others. In addition, we dedicate a preferential space to the famous postcards from Mar del Plata and we present a chronology of their transformation during the 19th and 20th centuries”, explains Mateo Niro, director of the Epistolary Documentation Center, in an interview for Ámbito Financiero.

Lighthouse of Memory

The former Marine Infantry Non-commissioned Officers School used to function on this property, in addition to the Punta Mogotes Lighthouse being located there. In the last dictatorship, the place was used as a clandestine detention center. It is currently a recovered space for the development of public policies of Memory, Truth and Justice.

History: It was built by the French company Barbier, Benard and Turenne, brought disassembled and assembled in the area of ​​Punta Mogotes in 1890. It was inaugurated on August 5, 1891. Since its foundation, it depends on the Naval Hydrography Service of the Argentine Navy (ARA ).

On a stone base, the tower was built on top of which the sentry box with the lighting device was located. In 1916 the Sirena Lighthouse was enabled, which emitted a sound that helped on foggy days.

As of 1959, the military schools are installed in adjoining properties, although the buildings had originally been built as a vacation colony. The Marine Infantry Noncommissioned Officer School (ESIM) began operating in January 1969. As of 1976, one of the clandestine detention centers operated there. Currently, it is a space for the memory and promotion of Human Rights.

El Faro de la Memoria: The pedagogical work of this space seeks to “understand the memory processes as illuminators of the present, serving as toolboxes to address new and old problems and positioning the new (and old) generations as part of the same society and history itself. It has proposals for the different educational levels: primary, secondary, tertiary and university.

On the other hand, the Lighthouse operates the Summer with Rights program, with various services from INADI, Renaper, ANSES, PAMI and some ministries. There is also a traveling fair.

What to do while you meet him?: On Tuesdays and Thursdays in February, it offers activities for the whole family between 6 and 8 p.m. In addition to the clown, theater, folklore or percussion workshops, among others, there will be different shows. In addition, talks, exhibitions, film series and cultural outreach workshops are promoted on its website.

Tank Tower

Inaugurated on January 30, 1943, this building was not created for the tourist purposes for which it is best known, but from the beginning it housed the function of improving the supply of drinking water in the Loma Stella Maris area. It is located in Falucho and Mendoza, the highest point in the area.

History: As a result of a draft competition requested by Obras Sanitarias de Mar del Plata to meet water needs, the winning design is based on an 88-meter-high tower, picturesque in style, which has a 500,000-liter water tank in the top and a reserve at the foot of the building that can contain 13,000,000 liters.

The architect Cornelio Lange’s project includes a viewpoint, which is accessed by the 194 steps of its staircase or also by an elevator that crosses the tank, which is shaped like a ring. Even today, it boasts one of the best views of the city towards the four cardinal points. The Tank Tower was declared a National Historic Architectural Monument.

What to do while you meet him?: In the place you can see photos and newspapers of the time. In addition, in season, there are free activities to commemorate its anniversary. This season the summer concerts are taking place, from Thursday to Sunday at 8:30 p.m., with proposals from local jazz, rock, reggae, cumbia, murga or folklore artists.

Source: Ambito

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