Carlos Martín Noel (30 August 1886 – 3 January 1941) was an
Argentine diplomat and politician of the
Radical Civic Union. He served as ''
intendente
An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In ...
'' (mayor) of
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 ...
from 1922 to 1927, and later went on to serve in the
Chamber of Deputies from 1936 until his death in 1941. Noel was
president of the Chamber of Deputies on two occasions, from 1936 to 1938, and later from 1940 to 1941.
His tenure as mayor of Buenos Aires is remembered for the "Plan Noel", an urbanistic roadmap for the city which sought to include, for the first time in the history of Buenos Aires, native-born Argentine architects (as opposed to European and North American architects).
Early life and career
Noel was born on 30 August 1886 in Buenos Aires into a wealthy family of Spanish immigrants. He attended the prestigious
Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires
Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires (''National School of Buenos Aires'') is a public high school in Buenos Aires, Argentina, affiliated to the University of Buenos Aires. In the tradition of the European ''gymnasium'' it provides a free education ...
, graduating in 1904, and later studied diplomacy and literature at the
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (french: École des hautes études en sciences sociales; EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The ...
and the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
, in Paris.
Noel became politically active in the
Radical Civic Union upon his return to Argentina in 1915, focusing his activities in
San Fernando and
Tigre, in
Buenos Aires Province. He was later appointed president of the Unión Industrial Argentina, and in 1917, he was elected to the municipal council of
Las Conchas. In 1920, he was posted to the Argentine embassy in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
by President
Hipólito Yrigoyen
Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Yrigoyen (; 12 July 1852 – 3 July 1933) was an Argentine politician of the Radical Civic Union and two-time President of Argentina, who served his first term from 1916 to 1922 and his second ...
, and later ascended to ambassador of Argentina in Chile.
Mayor of Buenos Aires
![Carlos Noel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Carlos_Noel.jpg)
In 1922, President
Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear
Máximo Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear Pacheco (4 October 1868 – 23 March 1942), was an Argentine lawyer and politician, who served as president of Argentina between from 1922 to 1928.
His period of government coincided precisely with the en ...
appointed Noel as ''
intendente
An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In ...
'' (mayor) of Buenos Aires. In 1923, Noel established the municipal "Commission on Architectural Aesthetic". In September 1925, Noel published a book wherein he laid out a new urbanistic plan for the city of Buenos Aires. The plan (revolutionary for its inclusion of Argentine architects) shifted the municipal government's attention away from the city centre and into the new neighbourhoods developing in the peripheries of the city, especially those populated by working-class immigrant families – at least half of Buenos Aires was populated by immigrants at the turn of the 1920s. The plan envisioned different commercial poles acting as "multiple city centres", with monumental civic buildings and a public park system.
[
Although the "Plan Noel" was never fully carried out, many of its proposals were completed during Noel's mayorship and in following years by successive administrations. Among these was the "reconquest of the ]River
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...
", the completion of the two diagonals ( Avenida Roque Sáenz Peña and Avenida Presidente Julio Argentino Roca) and Avenida Santa Fe
Avenida Santa Fe is one of the principal thoroughfares in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The artery is essential to the imaginary axis of Barrio Norte in Buenos Aires, comprising the areas influenced by the route of the avenue through Retiro, Recole ...
, the creation of new working-class neighbourhoods and kindergartens, the railway bridge over Avenida San Martín, and the establishment of the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Argentine Museum
The Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Argentine Museum ( es, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia) is a public museum located in the Caballito section of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
History and overview
The museum owes it ...
and the Colonial Art Museum, housed in the Palacio Noel (named after the mayor).
It was, for a time, proposed that the avenue facing the Río de la Plata on the northern side of Buenos Aires be known as "Avenida Intendente Carlos Noel".
Noel resigned from the mayorship in 1927. He was subject to persecution during the dictatorship of José Félix Uriburu
Lieutenant General José Félix Benito Uriburu y Uriburu (20 July 186829 April 1932) was the President of the Provisional Government of Argentina, ousting the successor to President Hipólito Yrigoyen by means of a military coup and declaring ...
due to his affiliation with the Radical Civic Union, and had to go into exile.[
]
Congressman
Noel was elected to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies in the 1936 legislative election, having run in Buenos Aires. He was elected as President of the Chamber in April 1936, shortly after taking office, and served in the position until 1938, and later from 1940 to 1941. As deputy, Noel formed part of the Commission on Foreign Affairs and lobbied for the establishment of the National Economic Council in 1938. He also pushed for the creation of the National Directorate of Urbanism and the sanctioning of the municipal urbanisation law.[
In addition to his preoccupation with urban development, Noel took part in debates on Argentina's foreign policy, especially with neighbouring South American nations. Inspired by the system employed by the French diplomatic service, Noel pushed for reforms to professionalise the Argentine diplomatic corps, and sought to position Argentina as a mediator in the ]Chaco War
The Chaco War ( es, link=no, Guerra del Chaco, gn, Cháko Ñorairõ[1940
A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* Januar ...](_blank)
, but died the following year on 3 January 1941, aged 54, in Poços de Caldas, Brazil.[
]
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Noel, Carlos
1886 births
1941 deaths
Argentine expatriates in France
Politicians from Buenos Aires
Mayors of Buenos Aires
Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires
Presidents of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
Radical Civic Union politicians
University of Paris alumni
School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences alumni
20th-century Argentine politicians