The Alvear Palace Hotel is a luxury hotel located in

Avenida Alvear Avenida Alvear is an upscale thoroughfare in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Located in the neighbourhood of Recoleta, it extends for seven blocks, from the Plazoleta Carlos Pellegrini to Alvear Plaza. The avenue is famous not only for the most excl ...

in Recoleta, an upscale neighbourhood in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. The hotel was inaugurated in 1932 and, following extensive refurbishment, was reinaugurated in 1994.

History

The hotel was built by Buenos Aires businessman and socialite Dr. Rafael de Miero, who had been to Paris in the early 1920s and wanted to bring some of that Belle Epoque grandeur to his then flourishing hometown. He bought and demolished a large house on the corner of Avenida Alvear and Ayacucho in 1922, which began the decade-long on-again, off-again project, which finally opened in 1932. A success, it was expanded in 1940, consuming another old mansion on Avenida Alvear. In 1970, ownership passed to the 26-year-old Andreas von Salm-Kyrburg Wernitz, Duke of Hornes, Spanish cousin of King

Juan Carlos I Juan Carlos I (;, * ca, Joan Carles I, * gl, Xoán Carlos I, Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 Novem ...

, who presided over the hotel's slow decline as a result of labour disputes and a general Argentinian economic stagnation. With bankruptcy threatening, in 1978 Wernitz sold the hotel to the Aragon Hotel Group, and since 1984, it's been part of David Sutton Dabbah's Alvear Luxury Hotels. It was renovated in 1984, and again in 2004.

Anecdotes

* In 1948

Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta Prince Aimone, 4th Duke of Aosta (''Aimone Roberto Margherita Maria Giuseppe Torino''; 9 March 1900 – 29 January 1948) was a prince of Italy's reigning House of Savoy and an officer of the Royal Italian Navy. The second son of Prince Emanuel ...

died in the hotel. * In 1962 the actor

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

and his family (

Janet Leigh Jeanette Helen Morrison (July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004), known professionally as Janet Leigh, was an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. Her career spanned over five decades. Raised in Stockton, California, by working-class parents, ...

Kelly Curtis Kelly Lee Curtis is an American actress. She is known for her roles in ''Magic Sticks'' (1987), and ''The Devil's Daughter (1991 film), The Devil's Daughter'' (1991). Early life Kelly Curtis was born in Santa Monica, California, the older chil ...

Jamie Lee Curtis Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, producer, children's author, and activist. She came to prominence with her portrayal of Lt. Barbara Duran on the ABC sitcom '' Operation Petticoat'' (1977–78). In 1978, she m ...

) stayed in room 606 during the filming of ''

Taras Bulba ''Taras Bulba'' (russian: «Тарас Бульба»; ) is a romanticized historical novella set in the first half of the 17th century, written by Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852). It features elderly Zaporozhian Cossack Taras Bulba and his sons And ...

''. * In 1964 in room 805, the actress

Juliette Mayniel Juliette Mayniel (born 22 January 1936) is a French actress. She appeared in more than 30 films and television shows between 1958 and 1978. At the 10th Berlin International Film Festival, she won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her role i ...

tried to commit suicide when she learned that her husband

Vittorio Gassman Vittorio Gassman (; born Gassmann; 1 September 1922 – 29 June 2000), popularly known as , was an Italian actor, director and screenwriter. He is considered one of the greatest Italian actors, whose career includes both important productions ...

was deceiving her. A hotel employee saved her just in time. * On May 4, 1992, the Swedish music group

Roxette Roxette was a Swedish pop rock duo, consisting of Marie Fredriksson (vocals and keyboards) and Per Gessle (vocals and guitar). Formed in 1986, the duo became an international act in the late 1980s, when they released their breakthrough second a ...

recorded the songs "Here Comes the Weekend" and "So Far Away" in the room 603, which were included in the album ''

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

''. *

Christina Onassis Christina Onassis ( el, Χριστίνα Ωνάση; 11 December 1950 – 19 November 1988) was a Greek businesswoman, socialite, and heiress to the Onassis fortune. She was the only daughter of Aristotle Onassis and Athina Mary Livanos. ...

bought suite 334 only to speak on the phone during her frequent stays in Buenos Aires. *

Horacio Ferrer Horacio Ferrer (June 2, 1933 – December 21, 2014) was a Uruguayan-Argentine poet, broadcaster, reciter and tango lyricist. He is particularly well known for having composed the lyrics for tangos by Astor Piazzolla, such as ''Balada para un loc ...

Lived in the hotel for 38 years until his death in 2014.

In Media

* The 1964 movie ''

Il Gaucho ''Il Gaucho'' (internationally released as ''The Gaucho'') is a 1964 Italian comedy film directed by Dino Risi. It was co-produced by Clemente Lococo, an Argentinian production company, and in Argentina it was released as ''Un italiano en la Argen ...

'', was filmed largely in the hotel. * The 1995 movie ''The Things of Love, Part II'', from the director

Jaime Chávarri Jaime Chávarri (born 20 March 1943) is a Spanish film director and screenwriter, best known for his films ''El desencanto'' and ''Bicycles Are for the Summer, Las bicicletas son para el verano''. Life and career Chávarri comes from a prom ...

has scenes filmed in the hotel. * In 2009 the hotel was featured in the movie ''

Walt & El Grupo ''Walt & El Grupo'' is a 2008 American documentary film written and directed by Theodore Thomas. Summary A presentation of Walt Disney Family Foundation Films, the film tells the story of Walt Disney's 1941 U.S. Government sponsored trip to Lat ...

'', about when

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

came to South America in 1942.

Notable guests

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and

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and

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and Máxima of the Netherlands *

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and

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References

* *

External links

Alvaer Palace Hotel Site
{{Authority control Hotels in Buenos Aires Hotel buildings completed in 1932