Buenos Aires City Hall

Buenos Aires City Hall is the executive seat of government of the Argentine capital.

Building

The 1880 Federalization of Buenos Aires was followed by a boom in foreign trade and European immigration, and in 1890, Mayor Francisco P. Bollini commissioned the construction of a new city hall. The building would replace what had been the city government's offices since 1860 - the second floor of police headquarters; the city had grown dramatically since then, and the space had become inadequate.

Bollini's announced project had been immediately preceded by the Panic of 1890, however, and the effect of this crisis on the city's leading source of tax revenue British investment, led to plans of a relatively modest scale. Among the cost-saving measures was the city's enlistment of the Assistant Minister of Public Works, Juan Cagnoni, as chief architect, as well as the decision to build on the site of the outmoded police headquarters. Decorative tilework and chandeliers from the adjacent Zuberbühler house, which had recently been expropriated to make way for the Avenida de Mayo, were likewise salvaged for use in the upcoming city hall (where they remain to the present day).

The cornestone laying ceremony was held on New Year's Eve 1890, for which the Mayor contributed a time capsule which included the construction permit among other mementoes. The works themselves cost the city a modest 150,000 pesos (US$ 75,000), and were completed in 1892. Inaugurated in March 1893, the new city hall originally housed 860 m² (9,200 ft²), and was only a little more spacious than the earlier offices. This problem was ultimately resolved by the 1911 acquisition of an adjacent residential lot, which allowed the expansion of the city hall to nearly double. Designed in the same Second Empire style with which Cagnoni designed the first part, the engineering firm of Bonneu Ibero, Parodi & Figini completed the annex in 1914. A connection to the adjacent House of Culture was opened following the latter's acquisition by the city in 1988.^[1]

Government

View of the Building

The 1880 Federalization of Buenos Aires, enacted in a bid to end the internecine warfare between those who favored a united Argentina with a strong central government (Unitarios) and Buenos Aires Province leaders who favored an independent nation of their own (Federales), resulted in President Julio Roca's passage in 1882 of National Law 1260, which created the presidential prerogative of the appointment of the Mayor of Buenos Aires (though with a locally elected city council).

This remained the city's governing structure in 1993, when former President Raúl Alfonsín prevailed on his successor, President Carlos Menem, to agree to a limited devolution of governing powers to the city (the Olivos Pact). Accordingly, the 1994 reform of the Argentine Constitution included article 129, which guaranteed Buenos Aires greater self-governance. The Indentente (appointed Mayor) was replaced by a Jefe de Gobierno (elected Mayor), and the city council by the Buenos Aires City Legislature. Shortly before the historic, June 30, 1996, elections to these posts, however, a senior Peronist Senator, Antonio Cafiero, succeeded in limiting the city's autonomy by advancing National Law 24.588, which reserved control of the 25,000-strong Policía Federal (the federally administered city police), the Port of Buenos Aires and other faculties to the national government.^[2]

The controversial bill, signed in 1996 by President Menem, remained a sticking point between successive Presidents (most of whom have been Peronist) and Buenos Aires Mayors (none of whom have been). A 2005 agreement on principles between Mayor Aníbal Ibarra and President Néstor Kirchner was followed by the modification of the especially contentious article 7, which denied the city its own, local police force, in 2007 - though the "Cafiero Law" otherwise remains in force. Efforts since 2007 by Mayor Mauricio Macri to declare it unconstitutional have thus far failed, and though the Mayor inaugurated a Metropolitan Police, issues of revenue sharing for its financing remain pending.^[3]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Palacio Municipal de Buenos Aires.

Coordinates: 34°36′29″S 58°22′26″W / 34.60806°S 58.37389°W / -34.60806; -58.37389

Landmarks of Buenos Aires City

Public & historic buildings and structures	Argentine National Congress Palace Torre Monumental Cabildo Café Tortoni Casa Rosada Centro Cultural Néstor Kirchner Chacarita Cemetery City Hall City Legislature Customs House Duhau Palace Estrugamou Building Floralis Genérica Galerías Pacífico Hotel de Inmigrantes Kavanagh Building Libertador Building May Pyramid Metropolitan Cathedral Monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi Obelisco Palacio Barolo Palacio Haedo Pizzurno Palace Plaza Hotel Recoleta Cemetery San Martín Palace Santo Domingo convent Sarmiento Frigate Uruguay Corvette The Water Company Palace Women's Bridge

Precincts & neighbourhoods	Almagro Belgrano Buenos Aires CBD Caballito City Centre Colegiales Montserrat Núñez Palermo Puerto Madero Recoleta Retiro San Telmo

Nature and parks	Avellaneda Park Botanical gardens Buenos Aires Ecological Reserve Chacabuco Park Congressional Plaza Japanese Gardens Lezama Park Palermo gardens Plaza de la República Plaza de Mayo Plaza San Martín Parque Centenario Buenos Aires Zoo Plaza Alvear

Cultural Institutions	El Ateneo Grand Splendid Argentine Automobile Club Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art Café Tortoni Fortabat Art Collection House of Culture Illuminated Block Isaac Fernández Blanco Museum King Fahd Cultural Center Latin American Art Museum Museum of Foreign Debt National Library National Museum of Decorative Arts National Museum of Fine Arts National Museum of History Opera House Paz Palace Planetarium Recoleta Cultural Center San Martín Cultural Center San Martín National Institute Sarmiento Museum Eduardo Sívori Museum Fundacion Proa

Sport	Bombonera Stadium River Plate Stadium Estadio Tomás Adolfo Ducó Maradona Stadium Vélez Sársfield Stadium Argentine Hippodrome of Palermo Lawn Tennis Club Polo Stadium Race Circuit Arena Obras Sanitarias CeNARD Estadio Ricardo Etcheverry G.E.B.A. Stadium

Transport	Buenos Aires Belgrano Sur Buenos Aires Underground Constitución station Federico Lacroze station Jorge Newbery Airport Once station Retiro station Tranvía del Este MetroBus

Shopping & entertainment	Abasto Mall Avenida Theatre Cervantes Theatre Fishermen's Pier Galerías Pacífico Gran Rex Theatre Luna Park Arena Paseo La Plaza Patio Bullrich Opera Theatre San Martin Theatre Parque de la Ciudad La Trastienda Club Galería Güemes

Streets & avenues	9 de Julio Avenue Avenida Alvear Avenida de Mayo Avenida del Libertador Callao Avenue Caminito Córdoba Avenue Coronel Díaz Street Corrientes Avenue Figueroa Alcorta Avenue Florida Street General Paz Avenue President Julio Argentino Roca Avenue Leandro Alem Avenue Pueyrredón Avenue President Roque Sáenz Peña Avenue Rivadavia Avenue Santa Fe Avenue Sarmiento Avenue Scalabrini Ortiz Avenue

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