Kavanagh Building
In 1934 a millionaire sold two ranches at age 39 to erect her own skyscraper — which on inauguration day in 1936 became the tallest reinforced-concrete structure on the planet.
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The building porteños voted most beloved in a 2013 survey stands 120 meters over Plaza San Martín, combining Modernism and Art Deco with deliberate austerity: no external ornamentation, just large prismatic volumes built in 14 months. It held two records on inauguration day in 1936 — tallest in Latin America and tallest reinforced-concrete tower in the world.
What to look for
- The symmetrical setbacks and gradual surface reductions stepping the facade up to its peak — a silhouette shaped as much by city planning rules as by design intent
- The complete absence of exterior decoration: the austerity of line was a design choice, not an economy
- The framing of Plaza San Martín below — the building overlooks the plaza from Florida Street, Retiro
Address is 1065 Florida Street, Retiro; cross the street toward Plaza San Martín for the best full-length view of the setback silhouette.
Kavanagh Building is one of 34 sights worth the detour in Buenos Aires, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Buenos Aires pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Buenos Aires
- Mas Monumental Stadium85,018 seats on reclaimed Río de la Plata marshland — the largest stadium in South America, and the ground where a World Cup Final was played.
- La BomboneraThat chocolate-box shape doesn't just look strange — the unusual design gives the bowl its famously excellent acoustics.
- Casa RosadaThe baby-pink paint was a political recipe: mix the Federalists' red with the Unitarians' white, and maybe stop a civil war.
- Teatro ColónAcoustics expert Leo Beranek surveyed leading international opera and orchestra directors and ranked this hall the world's best room for opera — not a slogan, a measured result.
- Oscar and Juan Gálvez Race TrackF1 cars once screamed through the third corner here at 305 km/h, flat out for 40 straight seconds — and the grandstands put you right on top of it.
- Palacio BaroloA 1923 tower mapped floor by floor onto Dante's Divine Comedy — hell at the base, purgatory in the middle, heaven at the top.