The Rafael Obligado Castle is an architecturally significant private residence located between Ramallo

Ramallo, Buenos Aires

Ramallo is a town in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the head town of the Ramallo Partido. It is located on next to the Río Paraná.-Economy:...

 and San Pedro

San Pedro, Buenos Aires

San Pedro, which full name is Rincon de San Pedro Dávila de los Arrecifes, is a city and port of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the side of the Parana River. It's the head city of the Partido de San Pedro, which also includes the following settlements: Rio Tala, Gobernador Castro,...

, Buenos Aires Province

Buenos Aires Province

The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...

.

Overview

Set along the banks of the Paraná River

Paraná River

The Paraná River is a river in south Central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina for some . It is second in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers. The name Paraná is an abbreviation of the phrase "para rehe onáva", which comes from the Tupi language...

, the residence was commissioned by Argentine poet Rafael Obligado

Rafael Obligado

Rafael Obligado was an Argentine poet and playwright.Obligado was the son of María Jacinta Ortiz Urién and Luis Obligado y Saavedra. During the 1880s, he became known as el poeta del Paraná . He wrote poetry with gaucho themes, but using cultured and educated language...

 in 1896. The estate itself had belonged to the Obligado family since the land's 1789 purchase by Antonio Obligado, a Castillian

Castilian people

The Castilian people are the inhabitants of those regions in Spain where most people identify themselves as Castilian. They include Castile-La Mancha, Madrid, and the major part of Castile and León. However, not all regions of the medieval Kingdom of Castile think of themselves as Castilian...

 merchant who had relocated from Andalucia, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, and was located within sight of the historic, 1845 Battle of Vuelta de Obligado

Battle of Vuelta de Obligado

The naval Battle of Vuelta de Obligado took place on the waters of the Paraná River on November 20, 1845, between the Argentine Confederation, under the leadership of Juan Manuel de Rosas, and an Anglo-French fleet.- Background :...

. The design for the home, commissioned to German Argentine architect Adolfo Büttner, was based on Neo-gothic architecture by request of the client. Obligado wished to evoke the settings described in the works of Scottish writer

Scottish literature

Scottish literature is literature written in Scotland or by Scottish writers. It includes literature written in English, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, Brythonic, French, Latin and any other language in which a piece of literature was ever written within the boundaries of modern Scotland.The earliest...

 Sir Walter Scott

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

 (a favorite of his wife, Isabel Gómez Langenheim).

Completed in 1898, the three story residence includes 37 rooms and nine baths. The floors are connected via three distinct staircases accessed from a grand reception hall, and the house possesses numerous secret passageways. Known as the Estancia El Castillo, the property remains in the Obligado family and is one of a number of distinguished estancia

Estância

Estância is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Sergipe. Its population was 62,218 and its area is 642 km². The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Estância....

s located in the surrounding Pampa

Pampa

The Pampas are the fertile South American lowlands, covering more than , that include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Córdoba, most of Uruguay, and the southernmost Brazilian State, Rio Grande do Sul...

s; the estate remains an agricultural

Agriculture in Argentina

Agriculture is one of the bases of Argentina's economy.Argentine agriculture is relatively capital intensive, today providing about 7% of all employment, and, even during its period of dominance around 1900, accounting for no more than a third of all labor. Having accounted for nearly 20% of GDP as...

 holding.

Popular lore has it that a ghost

Ghost

In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...

, "Toto," has resided in the property as well since at least 1930. A friendly if mischievous entity, Toto is reportedly given to hiding unguarded objects.