THE GREAT DIAGONALS OF BUENOS AIRES

It seems as if the great diagonals of Buenos Aires Downtown have been there forever. Nevertheless, they are actually less than 70 years old. The Julio Argentino Roca and Roque Sáenz Peña Avenues are the most famous diagonals of our city. They are born in the Plaza de Mayo and begin their course towards the South and North of Buenos Aires, housing some of the most beautiful and representative buildings.

In the decade of 1910, the government came up with the idea of opening these streets, imitating the Parisian model. Long time after that, in 1943, when the properties involved in the route were acquired, the diagonals were officially opened.

The President Julio Argentino Roca Avenue or South Diagonal is the shorter of the two, almost 300 meters long. It’s born in the south corner of the Cabildo and continues through the side of symbolic buildings as the one of the German enterprise Siemens (with the sculpture of the Colossus on the top), the entrance of the Palace of the Legislature and -near its end- the Manzana de las Luces (and old building of the XVIII Century which worked as a Jesuitical court house).



The Roque Sáenz Peña Avenue or North Diagonal has a symbolic route: it connects the executive and judicial powers, going from the Plaza de Mayo to the Palace of Law. It runs through the famous Obelisco and houses beautiful buildings which respect the height of a 10th floor (67,5 meters, the same as the Obelisco). The diagonal is almost 1km long, at the side of the Buenos Aires Cathedral, the Bencich Building (in the corner of Florida St.) and the Volta Building, until its end in Lavalle Square.