Avenida Leandro N. Alem
The Avenida Leandro N. Alem is one of the main thoroughfares in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. It leads from the business center of San Nicolás to Retiro.
Overview
What is the Avenida Leandro N. Alem today, was a two-lane road along the Río de la Plata at times the viceroy Juan José de Vértiz y Salcedo. To embellish, it was planted with poplars and inaugurated in 1780 as the Paseo de la Alameda. The Paseo was a popular promenade for walks. The embankment was used for bathing until an edict in 1809 prohibiting it from " moral " reasons.
However, the promenade was not safe from flooding and 1846, the then Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas build a nearly 700 -meter-long wall of protection. In March 1848, this new road as Encarnación Ezcurra Paseo (the name of Rosas ' wife) was opened, but was renamed in the same year in Paseo de Julio to the day of the Argentine Declaration of Independence to commemorate the July 9th. Opened in 1855 the British- Argentine Edward Taylor a pier along the road and the flood walls were extended north towards Recoleta, and south towards San Telmo and completed in 1865. In 1857, the southern half of the road was again renamed, this time to Avenida Paseo Colón, Christopher Columbus.
The wave of immigration in the late 19th century was a reason that the Paseo turned into a kind of bazaar where Italian trattorias, French bistros, German beer halls and Greek restaurants were found. The city council demanded in 1875 that all buildings must be provided with a portico, an arrangement that is still in force, and the result was that some of the financially or structurally unsafe establishments closed.
The upturn in the economy and the increase in population caused President Julio A. Roca, 1881 to arrange the construction of a port at La Boca. Approved by the National Congress and funded by the London bank Barings, this 200 acres of land were provided and widened the Paseo de Julio to a boulevard. To beautify the new road a fountain was commissioned sculptress Lola Mora at the. Inaugurated in 1903, caused the Nereids Fountain uproar over his naked Venus and 1918 he moved to Puerto Madero to.
The hitherto frequent shingle houses were replaced by representative offices, provided mostly in the French -style architecture and archways. This included the new headquarters of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange from 1916. A decree of November 1916 ordered the renaming in honor of Leandro N. Alem, founder of the UCR, the new ruling party to. Under this government came in 1928 and the main post office in Buenos Aires added, one of the main attractions of the new Avenida.
1931, the road was under Mayor José Guerrico again widened and received its present layout. Addition to the already eclectic architecture were building added in the rationalist style, including the Edificio Comega (1930) and the Edificio Alas (1950). The stretch of road north of the San Martin Square was renamed in honor of José de San Martín in Avenida del Libertador. Today the Avenida Leandro N. Alem is one of the first addresses for commercial real estate. The last remaining undeveloped land, about 15,000 m², which are owned by the city, were estimated to be worth around U.S. $ 80 million and announced for sale in 2009.