Edificio Volta, Art Deco building in Microcentro, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Edificio Volta is an Art Deco office building completed in 1935 at the corner of Diagonal Norte and Esmeralda. Its base is clad in black, gray, and pink granite, the upper floors in travertine, and a tower with a reinforced-concrete drum covered in smooth sheet metal crowns the corner. The plan forms an A shape around two internal courtyards.

Built in 1935, it originally served as headquarters for the Hispanic American Electricity Company, which provided power to the city. This industrial purpose shaped its design and made it a key part of Buenos Aires infrastructure during that era.

The name honours Alessandro Volta, inventor of the electric battery, a fitting choice for the headquarters of an electricity supplier. The double-height entrance hall was designed as a showroom for CHADE products. Heinlein supplied the sanitary fittings, lighting fixtures, heating and decorative tiles, while Nordiska provided the wood panelling, furniture and awnings.

The main access on the ochava opens into a double-height hall built as a CHADE product showroom. The triangular plaza in front, with the monument to Lisandro de la Torre, gives the clearest view of the corner tower and the granite base. The building stands where Diagonal Norte meets Esmeralda and Tte. Gral. Juan D. Perón.

The triangular plaza in front of the corner was laid out so the chamfered facade could be seen; it holds the monument to Lisandro de la Torre. The building's name honors Alessandro Volta, inventor of the electric battery, a nod to the CHADE electricity company that commissioned it.