The Tigre Hotel was an
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
hotel that stood on the banks of the
Luján River
The Luján River (Spanish, Río Luján) runs from its source near Espora about east of Buenos Aires, Argentina, to its outflow into the Río de la Plata north of the city.
The first Megatherium fossil was found here in 1789.
See also
* List of r ...
, in ''Paseo Victorica'',
Tigre, north 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 ...
city.
History
The idea of constructing a hotel in Tigre (then named "Las Conchas") came from a group of
rowing
Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...
enthusiasts who met at the "Pulpería del Portugués" of Buenos Aires in February 1870. Besides, several rowing clubs (such as
Buenos Aires R.C.) would then establish their headquarters in the area. After searching for a vacant land, they finally found one located near the confluences of
Reconquista
The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...
and
Luján.
The hotel was designed by the engineer Emilio Mitre (son of the
Argentine president
The president of Argentina ( es, Presidente de Argentina), officially known as the president of the Argentine Nation ( es, Presidente de la Nación Argentina), is both head of state and head of government of Argentina. Under Constitution of Ar ...
Bartolomé Mitre
Bartolomé Mitre Martínez (26 June 1821 – 19 January 1906) was an Argentine statesman, soldier and author. He was President of Argentina from 1862 to 1868 and the first president of unified Argentina.
Mitre is known as the most versatile ...
) and financed by Mitre himself with Ernesto Tornquist and Luis García. Works began in 1873 and the hotel was finally inaugurated on February 12, 1890. It soon became an important social, tourist and sporting centre, not only for the people of Tigre, but also for
porteño
In Spanish, the term (feminine: ''Porteña'') means "port city person". It is used to refer to residents of port cities such as Buenos Aires, Argentina; El Puerto de Santa María, Spain; Valparaíso, Chile; Mazatlán, Veracruz, Acapulco and Tamp ...
s. The hotel had 3 floors, an elevator and 50 rooms (all of them heated) with a ground floor dining room seating 200 people. There were salons for smoking, billiards, and for ladies. The hotel had a
coffeehouse
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...
,
tennis court
A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...
s, a
cricket pitch
In the game of cricket, the cricket pitch consists of the central strip of the cricket field between the wickets. It is long (1 chain) and wide. The surface is flat and is normally covered with extremely short grass, but can be completely d ...
, an area for
roller skating
Roller skating is the act of traveling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on streets, sid ...
, and there was a garage for cars.
In November 1892 the proprietors requested the Municipality of Tigre permission to organise regattas on Sunday and holidays. Three years later the hotel was authorised to open a casino. By those times, services also included evenings with fireworks, a permanent orchestra and other attractions on the banks of Luján River. An
Andalusian Patio and a winter garden were constructed afterwards.
At the end of the 19th century, Ludovico Schafer and E.E. Fischer acquired Tigre Hotel. The house was re-opened in 1895 with an inaugural big lunch. Some of the changes made by the new owners included the suppression of the roulette room.
In 1916 various repairs and improvements were made to the building at the height of the
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque (; French for "Beautiful Epoch") is a period of French and European history, usually considered to begin around 1871–1880 and to end with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era ...
as the hotel became the place where the elite of society of the time met and stayed and was famous for its dancing parties. The
economic crisis in the 1930s took its toll and in February 1939 the hotel closed its doors definitely. One year later the building was destroyed by fire and subsequently demolished. The place where the Tigre Hotel had stood remained abandoned, until the Tigre City Council building was constructed there, next to
Tigre Club
The Tigre Club stands on the banks of the Luján River, in ''Paseo Victorica'', Tigre, near Buenos Aires, Argentina. The club, built next to the Tigre Hotel (demolished in 1940), was financed by Ernesto Tornquist and was designed by the archit ...
(nowadays the Tigre Art Museum).
In popular culture
Today there is sometimes a confusion between the Tigre Hotel and the Tigre Club that was built next to the Hotel in 1912 and is still standing. Following its 1979 designation as a National Historic Monument, a decade of refurbishments ensued. The Tigre Art Museum was opened in 2006.
EL EDIFICIO Y SU HISTORIA
on Museo de Arte de Tigre (MAT) website
Bibliography
* Graciela Clemente, ''Tigre y Delta'', Grijalbo Mondadori, Buenos Aires, 2004.
References
{{coord missing, Argentina
Hotel buildings completed in 1890
Defunct hotels in Argentina
Tigre, Buenos Aires
Demolished hotels
Buildings and structures in Buenos Aires Province
Buildings and structures demolished in 1940
Demolished buildings and structures in Argentina