Plaza Hotel Buenos Aires

The Plaza Hotel Buenos Aires is a hotel in the Retiro district, near the Calle Florida shopping area and overlooking the Plaza San Martín. At the moment of its inauguration, the 9-floor hotel was the tallest building in Buenos Aires, until it was surpassed by the Kavanagh Building, inaugurated in 1936. The hotel was part of several international chains including InterContinental, and Marriott (through which it achieved a five-star rating), then temporarily closed in 2017. The building has been undergoing refurbishment and it is expected to be opened in 2027 as a residential complex with a new 12-floor hotel structure. History The Plaza was developed by local landowner and banker Ernesto Tornquist, in anticipation of the crowds of tourists expected for the 1910 Argentina Centennial celebrations. Facing San Martín Square, the nine-story hotel was designed by German-born architect Alfred Zucker and built at the northern end of Florida Street. Although Tornquist died before its opening, the 9-floor Plaza Hotel was inaugurated on July 15, 1909, with the presence of President José Figueroa Alcorta. At the time, it was the tallest building in Buenos Aires, until being surpassed by the Kavanagh Building, inaugurated in 1936. Touted at the time as the finest hotel in South America, it was also its most modern. The original 160 rooms and 16 suites had central heating, telephones, and elevator service. The hotel was wholly furnished by the prestigious London houses of Thompson & Company and Waring & Gillow. Marble sculptures by Gustav Eberlein of Germany and ceiling frescoes by Julio Vila y Prades of Spain added to its decor. A neighboring addendum (separated by a street) was blueprinted as a garden, but by the 1920s was built into a smaller building (then eventually destroyed). The main hotel has an extensive basement and sub-basement. The hotel was completely remodeled in 1934, with much of the elaborate exterior ornamentation removed and the interiors redone in the Art Deco style. Between 1942 and 1948 a large annex was constructed in the rear, along San Martin, designed by architects Carlos Alfredo Rocha and Enrique Martínez Castro. Further expansion by architects Clorindo Testa and Héctor Lacarra in 1977, in preparation for the 1978 FIFA World Cup, brought the number of rooms to nearly 400. The Philippine Embassy in Buenos Aires initially based itself out of the hotel when it opened in 1949. The hotel was a part of the InterContinental hotel chain from 1981 to 1982 and was renamed the "Plaza Inter-Continental". Marriott Hotels assumed management in 1994 and the hotel was renamed the "Marriott Plaza Hotel Buenos Aires", though the property was still owned by Tornquist's descendants. Following a US$10 million refurbishment, it was awarded a five-star rating. It was renovated ahead of its 100th anniversary in 2009, which was celebrated with tours for local residents and a book about its history. In 2013, the Tornquist and Shaw families sold the hotel to the Grupo Sutton Dabbah for 280 million pesos (approximately $48 million US at the time) and the hotel left Marriott, returning to its historic name, the Plaza Hotel Buenos Aires. The hotel closed on April 29, 2017. Its furnishings and contents were sold to the public in 2021. Plans were announced in 2022 for a $50-million reconstruction of the building, designed by BMA, an architecture firm based in Argentina, Chile, and Miami. The original structure was planned to be converted to luxury residences, while the 1948 extension was demolished in 2022, to be replaced by a 12-story hotel, opening in 2027. The interior design was assigned to local architect Martín Zanotti, who attributed various phoenix-themed decorations he found in the old hotel to Tornquist. Famous guests Gallery References Footnotes Citations External links Media related to Plaza Hotel Buenos Aires at Wikimedia Commons