One of the most beautiful and complex constructions of our city is the Current Water Palace (also known as Sanitary Works Building). It was built to house large water tanks which supplied the whole city in the beginning of the XX Century. The place is famous because of the luxury of its sumptuous architecture of imported material. A Historic National Monument you can visit on 1950 Córdoba Avenue.
The construction was in charge of the Swedish engineer Charles Nystönner and the Norwegian architect Olof Boye. The famous exterior façade was designed by Juan B. Médici. The works started in 1887 (400 men were employed) and finished in 1894 when it was officially opened. In 1989, the Current Water Palace became a Historic National Monument and a Historic Patrimony Museum.
The building is one of the most exuberant ones in Buenos Aires, and a marvelous work of eclectic architecture (very popular in Argentina until 1916). The style can be framed in the one imposed by the Second French Empire, with outstanding pieces of polychrome ceramics and baroque ornaments in its façade. You can spend hours looking at it or taking pictures of it, never capturing the whole detail.
The covering of the facade is made of 130 thousand glazed bricks and 170 thousand pieces of ceramics imported from Belgium and England and numbered to facilitate its placing. The roofs are made in green slate brought from France. At the time of its construction, many considered an exaggeration and a waste of money as it was destined to house 12 water tanks. Nowadays, in the building, you can visit the Historic Patrimony Museum.
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