French Embassy, Buenos Aires, Private mansion housing the French Embassy in Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The Palacio Ortiz Basualdo is a Beaux-Arts mansion at Cerrito 1399 and Arroyo, closing the perspective of Avenida Alvear. Paul Pater adapted the French hôtel particulier to a 1,600 m² plot: a four-level block with a cylindrical corner tower capped by a slate dome and zinc lantern. Its façades are clad in simulated Paris stone, with Ionic pilasters linking two cornices.

Designed in 1912 by French architect Paul Pater for the marriage of Daniel Ortiz Basualdo and Mercedes Zapiola, the palace was finished six years later under Pater's partner Eugenio Gant Ner, after Pater returned to France in 1914 to fight in World War I. In 1925 it housed the Prince of Wales during Marcelo T. de Alvear's presidency. After Ortiz Basualdo's death, his widow sold it to the French government in 1939, and in 1970 demolition for the widening of Avenida 9 de Julio was averted.

The palace's name comes from the Ortiz Basualdo family, who built it in 1912 for the marriage of Daniel Ortiz Basualdo and Mercedes Zapiola. In 1925 it housed the Prince of Wales as his official residence during Marcelo T. de Alvear's presidency. Since 1939 the ground-floor state rooms have kept their protocol use as the French Embassy's reception spaces.

The building is located at the intersection of Arroyo Street and Avenida 9 de Julio in an easily accessible area. Multiple bus stops and hotels are nearby, making it straightforward to reach the location.

The 1970 widening of Avenida 9 de Julio threatened the palace together with the neighbouring Alzaga Unzué Palace, today the Four Seasons hotel. Both were spared, and the abandoned project left the Ortiz Basualdo as the first obstacle on the avenue's route.