Government House of Buenos Aires Province, Government building in La Plata, Argentina.
The Government House of Buenos Aires Province is a red brick palace with monumental arches at its facade and four pairs of Ionic columns framing the entrance. The structure features symmetrical wings surrounding interior courtyards that house administrative offices and government workspaces.
The cornerstone was laid on 27 November 1882, and construction began the following year under Belgian architect Jules Dormal, finishing in 1892. On 13 September 1974 a fire in the mansard consumed the wooden floors and roofs; it caused no deaths and the damaged section was rebuilt.
The Salón Dorado, 11 by 24 metres, was decorated in Baroque style by Augusto Ballerini in 1900. Its ceiling figures carry the Scales of Justice, the Wheel of Industry and the Book of Education, and below them hang portraits of fourteen national heroes, among them José de San Martín, Manuel Belgrano and Domingo Faustino Sarmiento. A 4 by 12 metre frieze shows the three branches of government and angels holding a ribbon with the date of La Plata's founding in Roman numerals.
The building sits across from Plaza San Martín and is easily reached via the main streets of the city. Keep in mind that this is an active government workplace, so access and viewing conditions may be restricted for visitors.
The four pairs of columns above the triple-arch doorway once supported a small central turret with a dome, later demolished, so the roofline seen today differs from the original design. The mansard burned on 13 September 1974 and was rebuilt.
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