:: Buenos Aires Weekly ::

The building was designed by José C. Paz, founder of La Prensa newspaper. The building was constructed between 1895 and 1898. The result was impressive: neither Le Figaro in Paris nor The New York Herald had then such a significant building. La Prensa newspaper building had a system of tubes whereby mails where sent from one office to another. It was a pneumatic system of mails. At the cultural shop on the first floor, you can see the Post Office (headquarters) where the mails where received and redistributed. Definite project was completed in Buenos Aires by engineers Gainza and Agote, based on the façade design developed in France. The building comprises eight levels –two basements and six floors– structured around a central patio. On each level, all rooms look out onto an inner balcony which surrounds the central patio. Rooms are quite varied depending on their function: printing systems site, organization of newspaper distribution, client service and commercialization, offices and reception rooms, conference room, apartments for distinguished guests, technical and administrative offices, services, warehouse and records, exhibition rooms, communication station, personnel leisure rooms. On this building, there used to be also a library including more than 80,000 volumes. This library once inaugurated a subsidiary in Paris. You can also find medical offices, odontological offices, juridical offices, music schools and apartments for distinguished students, where Giácomo Puccini and Georges Clemenceau stayed some time ago. The latter described the place on one of his “Notes on the South America Journey”, published in 1911, as “the most magnificent building in Buenos Aires”. In 1995, the building was officially declared as a National Historic Monument due to its historic and architectonic value.

Located: Avenida de Mayo 575. Make sure to check the activities they offer like guided tours, shows and presentations in the Golden Room, exhibitions in the House of Culture Space.