Club Español en Buenos Aires, Social club in Monserrat, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Club Español is a four-storey palace at Bernardo de Irigoyen 172, built 1908–1911 to a design by Dutch architect Enrique Folkers. Its white facade mixes horseshoe arches, paired rectangular windows and horizontal bands of reddish granite, with blue-and-white tile panels on the upper left. The golden-copper dome carries a winged genius by Barcelona sculptor Torcuato Tasso, who once held a lantern lit on 12 October.
Founded in 1852 after the Battle of Caseros, the association was first called Casino Español and took its present name in 1872. It acquired the lots on Bernardo de Irigoyen in 1907, and the Dutch architect Enrique Folkers won the international competition for the building, whose foundation stone was laid in 1908 and which was occupied on 8 May 1911. In 1892 it raised funds for a warship donated to Argentina, and in 1910 the Infanta Isabel de Borbón gave it three elevators, two still working.
The name Casino Español preceded Club Español until 1872. The Salón Alhambra reproduces sections of the Alhambra of Granada, made by Francisco Villar and his French wife Léonie Matthis. The club published the magazine Hispania for many years with the Asociación Patriótica Española, and the winged genius on the dome once held a lantern lit on dates such as 12 October.
The building has elevators and air conditioning to ensure visitor comfort throughout the space. The different halls allow guests to find spaces suited to their needs and group size.
The building holds status as a national historical monument, recognizing its importance to Argentine history and urban development. Its architectural character connects the present-day city to the political and social movements of earlier eras.
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