Buenos Aires Customs, Empire style customs building in Monserrat, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Buenos Aires Customs, also known as the Aduana de Buenos Aires, is an Empire-style building in Monserrat, defined by two symmetrical towers and large ADUANA inscriptions on its facades. The building occupies a full city block and continues to function as an active customs facility.
The building was completed in 1910, at a time when Buenos Aires had grown into one of South America's main trading hubs and the port needed more space to handle the volume of goods passing through. It replaced an older customs facility that could no longer keep pace with the traffic.
The word ADUANA stands out on both sides of the facade, marking this as the official gateway for goods entering and leaving the country. The building sits at the edge of Monserrat, a neighborhood that has long served as the city's administrative and commercial heart.
The building is a short walk from Plaza de Mayo, making it easy to combine with nearby landmarks during a visit to the area. As it remains an active government facility, access to the interior is generally not available to the public.
Although the building looks from the outside like a formal public monument, it has never been converted into a museum or cultural space and still carries out its original function every working day. This makes it one of the few turn-of-the-century buildings in Buenos Aires that has kept the same role without interruption.
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