Palacio Salvo, Art Deco monument in Plaza Independencia, Montevideo, Uruguay
Palacio Salvo is a 27-story eclectic skyscraper at the corner of 18 de Julio Avenue and Plaza Independencia in Montevideo. Its 101-metre structure reaches 105 metres with the beacon on the dome. The building has a basement, ground floor, mezzanine, ten full upper floors and fourteen tower floors, with a passage linking the square to José Germán Araújo Street.
The Salvo brothers bought the plot and commissioned Italian architect Mario Palanti, who had already built the similar Palacio Barolo in Buenos Aires. The Palacio Salvo replaced the confitería La Giralda, where Gerardo Matos Rodríguez first played La Cumparsita in 1917. It was inaugurated on 12 October 1928 and was then the tallest reinforced concrete building in the world. It has been a National Historical Monument since 1996.
The building holds the Tango Museum of Montevideo and preserves the musical legacy of La Cumparsita along with artifacts from Uruguayan tango history. Visitors can see how this dance shaped local identity and continues to influence the cultural life of the city today.
The building occupies the corner of 18 de Julio Avenue and Plaza Independencia, and a ground-floor passage links the square with José Germán Araújo Street (formerly Andes). The original gates of that passage were reinstalled in 2017. Upper floors are private homes and offices, and the observation deck has been closed off by the antenna support structure.
The original plan included an Italian-made lighthouse at the summit meant to reach 100 kilometers. Later, however, antennas were installed that replaced this originally planned feature.
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