I wanted to show you a small series of photos of a very emblematic place in the city of Buenos Aires, the Pasaje la Defensa. This is a traditional house or casona as it is called to this kind of constructions. This style of houses in terms of dimensions and style are very characteristic of 1870/1900 and particularly this was the residence of the Ezeiza family, a prestigious family of the city. The house has many rooms that have as a nexus the side galleries and this huge house has three very large galleries or patios. It also has an upper floor with balconies that surround these same patios with really nice views.
Today this type of buildings since they became commercial mainly for international tourism for its colonial style and its cobblestone streets with small sidewalks and many houses of this style, were transformed into galleries full of stores inside like this one. Houses of selected used clothing, handicraft shops, small cafes, cutlery stores, there are also artists' workshops that use it as a workshop and sample for sale, there are stores of knives forged in the traditional way and scrap metal shops. I thought it was crazy to go into that space.
For those who do not know the culture of Argentina, this type of properties are many are as long as this but with this arrangement of many pieces, patios, balconies and so along long properties, but perhaps many not so wide, over the years were transformed from houses of distinguished families to pensions or family hotels where people rented a room only one and THE or THE bathrooms ended up being shared by all tenants of the property. In fact, this type of space was the place where the Argentine tango was basically born. The zaguanes, as the patios of these places were called, were home to long nights where people danced and sang until late, where there was a lot of drugs and alcohol and guests of all kinds of daring. Clearly not all of them were the same but in many of them tango was born and many of them were places of bad death where the worst of society resided for different reasons.
Others were more familiar places where only single working and responsible people or entire families were allowed to stay, and in these, with other rules of coexistence, schedules to use the bathrooms or schedules to enter and leave the boarding house. This is how these properties were transformed from old mansions of wealthy families to boarding houses that host entire families in a single room or prostitutes and thieves.
It never ceases to amaze me the power of reinvention that we human beings have where we can go from nothing to everything or from everything to nothing as the song says.
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Les queria mostrar una pequeña serie de fotos de un lugar muy emblematico de la ciudad de Buenos Aires, el Pasaje la Defensa. Esta es una casa tradicional casa o casona como se le dice a este tipo de construcciones. Este estilo de casas en lo referido a dimensiones y estilo son muy caracteristicos de 1870/1900 y particularmente esta fue residencia de la familia Ezeiza una prestigiosa familia de la ciudad. La casa tiene muchos cuartos que tienen como nexo las galerias laterales y esta enorme casona tiene tres galerias o patios muy grandes. Tiene una planta alta ademas con balcones que bordean estos mismos patios con unas vistas re lindas.
Hoy en dia este tiopo de construcciones desde que se volvieron comerciales principalmente para el turismo internacional por sus estilo colonial y sus callesitas de adoquinas con veredas pequeñas y muchas casas de este estilo, se transformaron en galerias llenas de comercios dentro como esta. Casas de ropa usada seleccionada, locales de artesanias, pequeños cafecitos, tiendas de cuchilleria, tambien hay talleres de artistas que lo usasn como taller y muestra para la venta, hya tiendas de cuchillos forjados de forma tradicional y locales de chatarreria. Me parecio una locura entrar en ese espacio.
Para los que no conocen la cultura de Argentina, este tipo de propiedades muchas son tanta estension como esta pero si con esta disposicion de muchas piesas, patios, balcones y asi a lo largo propiedades largas, pero tal vez muchas no tan anchas, con los años se fueron transformando de casas de familias distinguidas a pensiones u hoteles de familia en donde las personas alquilaban una habitacion solo una y EL o LOS baños terminaban siendo compartidos por todos los inquilinos de la propiedad. De hecho este tipo de espacios fueron lugar en donde se gesto basicamente el tango argentino. Los saguanes, como se les decia a los patios de estos lugares, eran hogar de noches largas en donde se bailaba y cantaba hasta tarde, en donde corria mucha droga y mucho alcohol y huespedo de todo tipo de osadias. Claramente no todos eran iguales pero en muhcos de ellos se gesto el tango y muchos de ellos fueron lugares de mala muerte en donde lo peor de la sociedad residia ahi por diferentes motivos.
Otros, eran lugares mas familiares en donde solamente dejaban hospedarse personas solas trabajadoras y responsables o familias enteras y en estas, con otrass reglas de convivencia, horarios para usar los baños o horarios para entrar y salir de la pensanion. Asi fueron transfformandose estass propiedades de viejas casonas de familias pudientes a pensiones que hospedan familias enteras en una sola habitacion o prostitutas y ladores.
No deja de sorprenderme el poder de re invension que tenemos nosotros los seres humanos en donde de la nada podemos llegar al todo o del todo a la nada como dice la cancion.
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