Palace of Running Waters, Water infrastructure museum in Balvanera district, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Palace of Running Waters is a former water pumping station with an attached museum in Balvanera that displays the historical infrastructure of Buenos Aires. The exterior facade extends across several stories with ornate iron frames and colored tile bands that shape the look of the block.
The building was commissioned after the 1871 yellow fever epidemic, which killed 14,000 of Buenos Aires' 178,000 residents, and after cholera and typhoid outbreaks in 1867 and 1869. President Domingo Faustino Sarmiento hired British engineer John Bateman in 1871 to plan a gravity-fed distribution tank. Construction ran from 1887 to 1894 with 400 workers, and President Luis Sáenz Peña inaugurated it. It was declared a National Historic Monument in 1989.
The name recalls the era when this building brought clean running water into homes across the Argentine capital. Today the former waterworks represents an important step in urban hygiene that locals and visitors can understand through the exhibition inside.
The museum occupies the second floor and is accessed through a staircase in the interior courtyard. Opening hours are limited, so checking in advance before visiting is recommended.
Twelve massive iron tanks inside still supply parts of the city with water while visitors view historical objects in the same building. The combination of active operation and museum use makes the place a rare example of living industrial history.
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