Palacio Gómez, Parliament building in Ciudad Vieja, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Palacio Gómez stands at 25 de Mayo 609-617, on the corner of Juan Carlos Gómez in Ciudad Vieja. The Casa de Francisco Gómez, designed by engineer Ignacio Pedrálbez, is a three-storey, 15-metre-high building of historicist eclecticism with a 557 m² footprint, its floors linked by a marble staircase. It is joined to the former Confitería El Telégrafo, a two-storey, ten-metre-high building of 1183 m² whose cellar once held Turkish baths.
The Casa de Francisco Gómez was built around 1870 (other sources cite 1865–1875) to a design by engineer Ignacio Pedrálbez for businessman Francisco Gómez, who never lived there. On 19 September 1888 the Gómez family sold it to the Junta Económico-Administrativa de Montevideo, which after renovations installed its offices on 25 August 1889, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The building later became the seat of the departmental legislature; in 1985–1989 it was restored and joined with the former Confitería El Telégrafo (built 1866) under architects Roberto Monteagudo and Manuel Aguado, and the works ended on 10 October 1989.
The building houses the Junta Departamental de Montevideo, the department's legislative body, and its General Artigas Library supports parliamentary work. The former El Telégrafo confectionery building, now the assembly chamber, retains its 1866 structure, and the 1989 restoration merged both buildings for legislative use.
The building can be visited during business hours, with visitors able to observe chamber sessions from designated viewing areas. Its central location in the old city makes it easily accessible, and standard mobility is required to navigate the stairs.
The 1985-1989 works that joined the Casa de Francisco Gómez with the former Confitería El Telégrafo, a building of 1866, also brought to light remains of an old Turkish bath in the cellars. The architects in charge were Roberto Monteagudo and Manuel Aguado.
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