AfterLife

Una familia tan diversa se merece muchas fotos… sobre todo, teniendo en cuenta las pocas visitas que suele recibir su tumba. No es una de las estructuras más notables del Cementerio, lo que es sorprendente dado que aquí descansa un talentoso arquitecto:

La familia Noel llegó a la Argentina desde el País Vasco a mediados del siglo XIX. Benito comenzó a producir dulces y tuvo un éxito inmediato. El logo de la compañía jugaba con el nombre de la familia y su asociación con la Navidad. Benito falleció en 1916, pero sus hijos continuarían con el negocio familiar y se haría famoso en otras áreas. Una placa para Benito recuerda al visitante: “No lo lloréis, imitadle!”:

Uno de los hijos, Carlos Noel, manejó la fábrica de chocolates ubicada en La Boca. Se vendió hace poco, pero el edificio todavía está de pie en la avenida Regimiento de Patricios. De todos modos, a Carlos se lo recuerda más por haber sido intendente de Buenos Aires en los años ’20, durante la presidencia de Marcelo T. de Alvear… en la época en que el Presidente tenía el privilegio de elegir al conductor de la Capital. No hacían falta elecciones, así que las conexiones de la familia Noel eran, obviamente, muy buenas:

Otro hijo, Martín Noel, se convirtió en uno de los más famosos arquitectos de los años ’20 y ’30. Le abrió el camino a un nuevo estilo de arquitectura, que combinó el Art Déco con elementos de diseño de las culturas americanas, como también formas coloniales españolas. Este estilo, llamado NeoPrehispánico, tiene como su mejor ejemplo en Buenos Aires al Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Fernández Blanco… que anteriormente fue el hogar de la familia Noel. Martín también diseñó el pabellón argentino para la Exposición Ibero-Americana de 1929, que se ve aquí:

Chocolates Noel desapareció con la ola privatizadora de los años ’90 en Argentina, y fue comprada en 1994 por Arcor. Aunque Arcor es una megacorporación argentina, la marca Noel fue descontinuada. Al igual que las Lo mismo que las galletitas Terrabusi, el chocolate Noel es otro clásico nacional desaparecido para siempre.

Nacido en Italia en 1883, Agustín Zamboni estudió en Milán y aceptó un puesto como Director General de la compañía eléctrica estatal en Montevideo, Uruguay, en 1907. Ocho años más tarde, cruzó el Río de la Plata y ocupó la misma posición en la Compañía Ítalo-Argentina de Electricidad (CIAE). Cuando el Presidente de CIAE, Juan Carosio, murió en 1959, Zamboni tomó la posta. En 1964 renunció al cargo de Director General, pero continuo siendo Presidente hasta su muerte, en 1969.

La compañía eléctrica más grande de la ciudad dejó una marca única en Buenos Aires; cubrieron sus subestaciones con un poco de la Italia medieval… grandes y pequeños castillos de ladrillo llegaron a la mayoría de los barrios, a menudo encerrados entre casas, o desintegrándose en silencio mientras la gente camina por allí sin saber de su existencia.

Buenos Aires se hizo eléctrica en 1887 gracias a una compañía alemana (CATE), pero su monopolio fue frenado por la CIAE en 1914. La empresa suizo-italiana tuvo una concesión hasta 1962, pero muchas cosas pasaron en el entretiempo. Otras empresas llegaron y se fueron, su contrato fue extendido; ni Perón ni Frondizi las nacionalizaron, pero Isabel comenzó el proceso. Incorporada a SEGBA en 1978, lo que quedó de las estructuras de la CIAE fue donado al Gobierno de la ciudad en 1987. El generador ubicado en Puerto Nuevo —el más grande de todos— fue privatizado en 1992.

A single plaque states that Alfredo Giusti was the director & president of the Droguería de la Estrella for almost half a century, from 1906 to 1950:

As the oldest surviving business in Buenos Aires, the Droguería de la Estrella sits one block from Plaza de Mayo on the corner of Alsina & Defensa. The shop also has the distinction of being the first pharmacy in the city when it opened in 1834. Then known as the Farmacia de la Estrella, its location across the street from the Iglesia de San Francisco began a trend… all early pharmacies were placed near churches so patrons could use their bell towers as beacons.

In 1969, the building was saved from demolition & pharmacy murals restored to their original condition. Currently, the Museo de la Ciudad occupies the upper floor & uses some of the storefront for window displays about life in Buenos Aires:

As happens so often, if an important person did not establish a family vault during their lifetime, their children usually take on the responsibility. Alberto J. Beláustegui married into the family of one of Argentina’s most famous Merchant Marines: Baron Nicolás Mihanovich.

Born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Mihanovich arrived in South America in 1867. Deciding to establish a river navegation company, by 1900 the business had a fleet of 200 ships, their own drydock facilities & hundreds of employees. But vessels are expensive to maintain & in order to remain profitable, the company became a public corporation with Mihanovich & his family retaining the majority of shares & control.

Growth continued at a wild pace. With the acquisition of more second-hand vessels as well as new ships from England, the Mihanovich fleet served half of South America. Local banks were unwilling to deal with such large investment needs, so Mihanovich created a branch in England to keep the cash flowing. The Argentine Navigation Company (Nicolás Mihanovich), Ltd. had approximately 25% British shareholders in 1909… an important fact when World War I began five years later.

By that time, the business had expanded to 5,000 employees & 324 vessels, including trans-Atlantic passenger ships. But Mihanovich had never officially become Argentine, & his company became the subject of aggression in London. His Austro-Hungarian nationality (plus a recently added title of Baron) made investors uneasy dealing with “the enemy.” At the age of 72, Mihanovich was forced to liquidate a large portion of his company, but the ongoing war made that easy due to a high demand for ships.

The entire company was eventually acquired by Alberto Dodero & continues to function today, albeit after many name changes & mergers. Several vestiges of the Mihanovich shipping empire remain in Buenos Aires; one very visible example is the company’s main office. Built on Avenida Alem with a direct view to Puerto Madero, the 1912 building stands out for its interesting architecture:

The main entrance at the intersection of Perón & 25 de Mayo still displays the Mihanovich logo:

Although participating in a number of political events during the end of the 19th century (most notably the 1890 Revolution), Emilio Mitre chose not to follow the path of his father—President Bartolomé Mitre. Emilio limited his political ambitions to Congress, using his engineering background to improve the nation.

Before being elected senator, Emilio Mitre established telegraph lines & managed the operations of the train service departing from Once in Buenos Aires. Mitre also took over the family business—the La Nación newspaper founded by his father—but probably his most important contribution was supervising the construction of a canal in the Río de la Plata.

In spite of being famous as a port city, Buenos Aires has always had trouble with shipping due to its location. Tons of sediment from the Paraná & Uruguay Rivers finds a cozy home on the sandbars off the coast of Buenos Aires. Large berth ships follow restricted lanes, dredged frequently to be navigable. Mitre realized that cargo coming down the Paraná River needed better access to the port of Buenos Aires, so proposed a new canal. It continues to be used today. There are few nav charts online which clearly shows the buoy-marked canal just off the city shoreline:

On a non-engineering note, Bartolomé Mitre may be buried here with his son. Maybe. While rummaging through photos at the Archivo General de la Nación, a 1906 photo of Emilio’s tomb had “transfer of  Mitre” written on the back:

The dates don’t jive though. Emilio died in 1909… three years after the above photo was allegedly taken. Bartolomé’s grand vault was replaced with an equally grand monument in 1938, but the final location of all family members is not clear:

Bartolomé & wife Delfina de Vedia are most likely with their son, but this needs further investigation… surely they wouldn’t be sealed underneath this monument for eternity. Emilio’s vault was declared a National Historic Monument in 1946.

Vean la última foto más grande en Flickr.

In 1866—several years before the Campaña del Desierto—Álvaro Barros went to command one of the fortified outposts on the frontlines between the indigenous population & what was considered national territory. His new settlement founded a year later near the fortress became known as Olavarría, established friendly relations with local tribes & began moderate agricultural activity.

Barros left Olavarría when his replacement arrived in 1868 but maintained active in both the military & politics. After Roca pushed the frontlines as far south as the Río Negro, all newly acquired territory in Patagonia needed to be officially incorporated into the central government. Roca named Barros Governor of Patagonia in 1878, & he reported to Roca directly… not to the Ministry of the Interior.

Two years later the final boundary was set between the Province of Buenos Aires & Patagonia at the outlet of the Río Negro. To make the separation clearer, Barros decided to move the regional capital to the area only the southern side of the river. Viedma is now considered the oldest settlement in Patagonia.

As co-founder of the land auction firm Bravo Barros y Cía, Álvaro managed to control real estate development in Patagonia & earned a lot of prestige & power at the same time. The company even auctioned off land in Buenos Aires:

Other relatives of Álvaro helped develop train lines to deliver agricultural goods for export & connect remote regions of the south to the port of Buenos Aires: