The Palace of Running Waters ( es, Palacio de Aguas Corrientes) is an architecturally significant water pumping station 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 ...

and the former headquarters of

Obras Sanitarias de la Nación Sanitary Works of the Nation ( es, Obras Sanitarias de la Nación, abbreviated OSN) was a state-owned company of Argentina dedicated to supplying the public with running water and sewer services. Established in 1912, the company's operation area ...

. It is currently administered by

Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos Argentine Water and Sanitation ( es, Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos, mostly known for its acronym AySA) is a state-owned company of Argentina dedicated to supplying the public with running water and sewer services. Created in 2006 after the Govern ...

(AySA).

Overview

The building was designed as a water

pumping station Pumping stations, also called pumphouses in situations such as well drilling, drilled wells and drinking water, are facilities containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastru ...

in 1877 by

Swedish Argentine Swedish Argentines are Argentine citizens of Swedish descent, as well as Swedish-born people who reside in Argentina. The history of Swedish settlement in Argentina took place principally in the mid to late 19th century, when Swedish people a ...

architect Carlos Nyströmer, and completed in 1894. It was commissioned, in part, to replace the unsightly water tower on Lorea Plaza in what today is

Congressional Plaza Congressional Plaza (Spanish: ''Plaza del Congreso'') is a public park facing the Argentine Congress in Buenos Aires. The plaza is part of a 3 hectare (7.5 acre) open space comprising three adjoining plazas to the east of the Congress building. ...

. Occupying a city block at the northern end of the city's

Balvanera Balvanera is a barrio or neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Origin of name and alternative names The official name, Balvanera, is the name of the ''parroquia'' (parish) centered around the church of ''Nuestra Señora de Balvanera'', erected ...

section, the

Córdoba Avenue Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, 2nd largest city in the country and capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cordoba may a ...

landmark still functions as a pumping station.Wilson, Jason. ''A Cultural Guide to the City of Buenos Aires''. Oxford, England: Signal Books, 1999. The

French renaissance The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define th ...

palace was covered in over 300,000 glazed, multi-color

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

tiles imported from the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

ceramics maker,

Royal Doulton Royal Doulton is an English ceramic and home accessories manufacturer that was founded in 1815. Operating originally in Vauxhall, London, and later moving to Lambeth, in 1882 it opened a factory in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in the centre of Engl ...

. It features a tin

mansard A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...

roof, and is emblazoned with escutcheons representing the 14 Argentine provinces of the time. The building's entrance is graced by two

caryatid A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...

s, and the property, by landscaped gardens that includes a bust created by

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

sculptor Olaf Boye in honor of engineer Guillermo Villanueva, the first Director of the Buenos Aires Water Supply and Drainage Company Limited, the then British-owned municipal water works inaugurated in 1869. The building was transferred to the City of Buenos Aires following the 1892 nationalization of the British-owned company. The company, eventually known as

(OSN), was reprivatized in 1993 with a 30-year contract. The contract's rescission in 2006 transferred the property to AySA, a State enterprise, however. The palace still houses a number of AySA offices, Historic Archives and a small water works museum. The building figures prominently in the book " Santa Evita" by Tomas Eloy Martinez. It is also mentioned in his book "The Tango Singer". Palacio Obras

Historic Archive

Established in 1873, this is the only Archive containing complete and specific information about emblematic buildings and water supply planning of

. This archive is composed by three main Archives.

Water Network Supply Archive

Contains plans about

Water treatment plants Water treatment is any process that improves the quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, inclu ...

, sewage and water network supply, drains and projects. The information found in these plans includes type, size and material of pipes, dates, architectural drawings, etc.
Size of collection: about 60.000 plans, oldest is from 1870. This archive is not available to the public. Some plans approved for public release were published through books, newspapers and websites.

Water Connection Application Records

Holds a large collection of documents detailing building category, water connection application forms, construction materials, measures, number of pipe connections, names of the owners, etc of almost each building constructed in

. Many documents are signed by famous and important people of Argentina such as president

Bartolome Mitre Bartolome is a Tagalog surname and may refer to: * Donnalyn Bartolome (1994), Filipina internet personality, vlogger, singer, songwriter and rapper * Heber Bartolome Heber Gonzalez Bartolome (November 4, 1948 – November 15, 2021) was a Filipi ...

, physiologist Bernardo Houssay, writer

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

among others.
Size of collection: about 350,000 records. This Archive is not available to the public. Some documents approved for public release were published through books, newspapers and websites.

Plumbing Plans Archive

Keeps plumbing and fire hydrants service plans of 320,000 land lots of

. These plans are crucial for finding water, drain and sewage connections and fixing water leaks. This archive also preserves plans of buildings demolished during the construction of large avenues and highways of Buenos Aires, e.g. 9 de Julio Avenue. The collection has about 2,800,000 plans, the oldest dating from 1889. Accesses is to authorized individuals. Some plans were approved for public release, and were published in books, newspapers and websites.

Exterior

File:Palacio_de_aguas_corrientes.jpg, File:Aguas Corrientes-detail-TM.jpg, Detail of the exterior facing Riobamba Street File:Aguas Corrientes-fachada-HDR.jpg, Detail of the main façade File:Aguas-argentinas.JPG,

Interior

File:Pipes in Palacio de Aguas Corrientes.jpg, ''Still pipes inside the facility'' File:Museum in Palacio de Aguas Corrientes.jpg, ''The building's museum'' File:Former_Water_Reservoir.JPG, ''Former Water reservoir, now AySA Archives'' File:Historic_AySA_Archives_.JPG, ''Historic AySA Archives'' File:Water_Company_Palace_Model.jpg, ''Model of the Water Company Palace at AySA Archives'' File:Olaf_Boye_Plumbing_Plan_February_1889.jpg, ''Historic Plumbing Plan at AySA Archives''

References

External links

Museum of Water and Health History
- Aguas y Saneamientos Argentinos {{DEFAULTSORT:Palacio de Aguas Corrientes Balvanera Archives in Argentina Palaces in Buenos Aires Museums in Buenos Aires Infrastructure completed in 1894 Water supply pumping stations Technology museums