El Ateneo Grand Splendid, Eclectic architecture bookstore in Recoleta, Argentina
El Ateneo Grand Splendid occupies the 1919 Teatro Gran Splendid at Avenida Santa Fe 1860, designed by Peró and Torres Armengol for impresario Max Glücksmann. Its light stone facade carries a rounded balcony held up by carved caryatids by Troiano Troiani, gold "GRAND SPLENDID" lettering and a black awning reading "El Ateneo". Inside, cream-and-gold curved balconies with sculpted reliefs rise in tiers around the former stage, now a café behind a gilded proscenium arch, with bookshelves lining the walls and filling the floor.
The building opened in 1919 as Teatro Grand Splendid, functioning as a performance venue for theatrical productions in Buenos Aires. During the 1920s it shifted to showing films, then converted into a bookstore in 2000.
The name comes from the El Ateneo publishing house, and the shop belongs to Grupo Ilhsa, which through Tematika also runs the Yenny chain and more than 40 stores. The former theatre boxes now hold reading chairs, and the stage at the far end has been turned into a café.
The store occupies the former auditorium at Avenida Santa Fe 1860 in Recoleta, with escalators linking the lower floor to the ground level. Seating is placed throughout, including in the intact theatre boxes, and a café sits at the back of the old stage. The building has been listed as a cultural monument by the city of Buenos Aires since 2000.
Italian artist Nazareno Orlandi painted the central dome with an allegory of peace following World War I. This original fresco still watches over the entire bookstore from above.
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