Santa Fe Avenue
Encyclopedia
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. The artery is essential to the imaginary axis of Barrio Norte
Barrio Norte, Buenos Aires
Barrio Norte is the informal name given to a part of Buenos Aires centering around Santa Fe Avenue and the Recoleta district.Recoleta, Belgrano and Palermo, are within a region with a per capita immediately comparable with that of many European cities-Overview:An unofficial neighborhood, Barrio...
in Buenos Aires, comprising the areas influenced by the route of the avenue through Retiro
Retiro, Buenos Aires
Retiro is a barrio in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Located in the northeast end of the city, Retiro is bordered on the south by the Puerto Madero and San Nicolás wards, and on the west by the Recoleta ward.-Urban character:...
, Recoleta and Palermo
Palermo, Buenos Aires
Palermo is a neighborhood, or barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It is located in the northeast of the city, bordering the barrios of Belgrano to the north, Almagro and Recoleta to the south, Villa Crespo and Colegiales to the west and the Río de la Plata river to the east. With a total...
neighborhoods, it is considered one of the main shopping and strolling areas of the city, its many boutiques range from elegant to edgy, dubbing it the Avenue of Fashion. Upscale Alto Palermo, at Avenida Coronel Díaz, is one of the city's vertical malls. Avenida Santa Fe is also an attraction for its architecture, strongly reminiscent of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Its name pays homage to the eponymous province in Argentina.
History
British invasions of the Río de la Plata
The British invasions of the Río de la Plata were a series of unsuccessful British attempts to seize control of the Spanish colonies located around the La Plata Basin in South America . The invasions took place between 1806 and 1807, as part of the Napoleonic Wars, when Spain was an ally of...
in 1806, it was renamed for one of the popular heores of the invasion's defeat, Pío Rodríguez. The declaration of autonomy from the Spanish Empire
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
in 1810 led city officials to rename it Calle Estrecha (the "Narrow Street"). The progressive Governor of the Province of Buenos Aires, Martín Rodríguez, had the narrow street widened in 1822, following which Bernardino Rivadavia
Bernardino Rivadavia
Bernardino de la Trinidad Gónzalez Rivadavia y Rivadavia was the first president of Argentina, from February 8, 1826 to July 7, 1827 . He was a politician of the United Provinces of Río de la Plata, Argentina today...
, the first President of Argentina
President of Argentina
The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...
, renamed it Santa Fe Avenue. Mayor Torcuato de Alvear
Torcuato de Alvear
Torcuato de Alvear y Saenz de la Quintanilla was a 19th century Argentine conservative politician. He was the son of soldier and statesman Carlos María de Alvear and father of Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear, president of Argentina from 1922 to 1928.In 1880 Buenos Aires was declared the capital city...
, inspired by the urban redevelopment works in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
at the hand of Baron Haussmann
Baron Haussmann
Georges-Eugène Haussmann, commonly known as Baron Haussmann , was a French civic planner whose name is associated with the rebuilding of Paris...
, drew up master plans for major boulevards, running east to west, every six blocks and in the 1880s, the avenue was included in the plan and widened. A 1967 ordinance made the avenue a one-way thoroughfare, west to east.
Overview
Santa Fe Avenue officially begins on the southern end of Plaza San MartínPlaza San Martín (Buenos Aires)
Plaza San Martín is a park located in the Retiro neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Situated at the northern end of pedestrianized Florida Street, the park is bounded by Libertador Ave. , Maipú St. , Santa Fe Avenue , and Leandro Alem Av....
and the northern end of pedestrian Florida Street
Florida Street
Florida Street is an elegant shopping street in Downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. A pedestrian street since 1971, some stretches have been pedestrianized since 1913....
. The avenue affords a view of the Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
Kavanagh building
Kavanagh building
The Kavanagh Building is an Art Deco skyscraper in Buenos Aires, located at 1065 Florida St. in the barrio of Retiro, overlooking Plaza San Martín. It was designed in 1934 by local architects Gregorio Sánchez, Ernesto Lagos and Luis María de la Torre, and was inaugurated in 1936...
and Plaza Hotel
Marriott Plaza Hotel, Buenos Aires
The Buenos Aires Marriott Plaza Hotel is a five star establishment located in the city's Retiro section.-Overview:The Marriott Plaza was originally developed by local landowner and banker Ernesto Tornquist. Facing San Martín Plaza, the nine-story hotel was designed by German architect Adolf Zucker...
(officially on Florida St.) and passes by the former Haedo and Paz palaces (today public buildings) before leaving the plaza's leafy surroundings. It continues westward along the Retiro
Retiro, Buenos Aires
Retiro is a barrio in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Located in the northeast end of the city, Retiro is bordered on the south by the Puerto Madero and San Nicolás wards, and on the west by the Recoleta ward.-Urban character:...
area, passing by the Olivetti
Olivetti
Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, printers and other business machines.- Founding :The company was founded as a typewriter manufacturer in 1908 in Ivrea, near Turin, by Camillo Olivetti. The firm was mainly developed by his son Adriano Olivetti...
building (built in 1964, one the first in Buenos Aires designed in the International Style
International style (architecture)
The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...
) and through the massive Avenida 9 de Julio, which was opened through the Retiro area in the early 1970s. The Greek Revivalist
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
Argentine Scientific Society and the Art Deco Regina Theatre follow and, past Avenida Callao, Santa Fe Avenue enters its Recoleta
Recoleta
Recoleta is a downtown residential neighborhood in the city of Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina; it is an area of great historical and architectural interest, due, particularly to the Recoleta Cemetery located there...
stretch. This stretch of the upscale thoroughfare is considered one of the main shopping districts in the city.
Just past Callao Avenue, the former Grand Splendid Theatre was converted in 2000 into the El Ateneo
El Ateneo
El Ateneo Grand Splendid is one of the best known bookshops in Buenos Aires, Argentina. -Overview:Situated at 1860 Santa Fe Avenue in Barrio Norte, the building was designed by the architects Peró and Torres Armengol for the empresario Max Glucksman , and opened as a theatre named Teatro Gran...
Bookstore, the most important in Latin America. Past Pueyrredón Avenue, Line of the Buenos Aires Metro
Buenos Aires Metro
The Buenos Aires Metro , locally known as Subte is a mass-transit system that serves the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first station of this network opened in 1913, the first of its kind in South America, the Southern Hemisphere and the entire Spanish-speaking world...
was laid out underneath Santa Fe in the 1920s. The availability of frequent subway stations past this point has helped maintain the more residential setting of the remaining stretches of the avenue. Past Coronel Díaz Avenue, the avenue provides easy access to the Alto Palermo Shopping Centre, one of the most important in Buenos Aires. Entering the Palermo
Palermo, Buenos Aires
Palermo is a neighborhood, or barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It is located in the northeast of the city, bordering the barrios of Belgrano to the north, Almagro and Recoleta to the south, Villa Crespo and Colegiales to the west and the Río de la Plata river to the east. With a total...
district, it continues past the Buenos Aires Zoo
Buenos Aires Zoo
The Buenos Aires Zoo is an zoo in the Palermo district of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Zoo contains 89 species of mammals, 49 species of reptiles and 175 species of birds, with a total of over 2,500 different animals...
, the Botanical Garden
Buenos Aires Botanical Garden
The Buenos Aires Botanical Garden is located in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires in Argentina. The garden is triangular in shape, and is bounded by Sante Fé Avenue, Las Heras Avenue and República Árabe Siria Street...
and Plaza Italia, a point overlooked by the Monument to the "Sword of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
," Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
. The avenue continues past the Argentine Rural Society
La Rural
La Exposición Rural , is an annual agricultural and livestock show held in the Palermo section of Buenos Aires, Argentina...
's ornate exposition grounds and into a tunnel, where it becomes Cabildo Avenue.