Imagine, it's 2003. Argentina is just beginning to emerge from a terrible crisis. The streets buzz with hope, but also with echoes of caution. And here, Eduardo Costantini, a visionary entrepreneur who had just made a splash with the MALBA museum, announces a new project: Tour Grand Bourg, a luxury building on Figueroa Alcorta Avenue. Selling price? $2800 per square meter! It makes you think twice before breaking the piggy bank for an apartment here. But, as they say, luxury doesn't wait: in just one week, all the apartments were sold.
Now, take a deep breath. You'll notice these details: a majestic entrance with an arcaded gallery, a hall adorned with black and white marble, 14 elegant floors topped with a mansard roof, and even a swimming pool and a vast garden behind. But behind the apparent calm, a storm is brewing among architects! Because Costantini, after building the city's most contemporary museum, chose a very classic French style here... with a 21st-century twist. And that's where anarchy erupted in the specialized press. Luis Grossman, a sharp-penned architecture critic, attacked in the newspaper La Nación. According to him, the Grand Bourg is a 'schizophrenic' mix of old French chic and cutting-edge technology. Others cried scandal: how can one want to live in a building 'disguised' as old, when everyone is looking for the very best in cars and smartphones? It's said that an architect even suggested that if Philip the Fair returned, he would settle here - provided there was room for his servants!
But wait, not everyone shared this indignation. Some, in other newspapers, raised their glasses to this defiance of architectural dogmas, celebrating freedom of style. With all this fuss, the president of the Central Society of Architects tried to calm things down: 'It's not my way of doing things, but let others do theirs...' Ah, wisdom!
By the way, did you know that the 21 apartments here are at least 260 m²? With a gym, party room, 56 underground parking spaces, and a large wooded garden on the Juez Estrada side. The kind of place where you could easily imagine bumping into a ghost from the Roaring Twenties... or perhaps just a neighbor in a bathrobe coming out of the spa.
The debate quickly spread: heritage specialists found some details 'Disneyland-like,' while others recalled that in 1929, an exactly opposite controversy had erupted during the construction of a rationalist house right here. It just goes to show that in Buenos Aires, a building never achieves unanimity... except perhaps among pigeons, who, for their part, have never given their opinion.
Ultimately, society decided with enthusiasm: the apartments sold in a flash, Costantini even moved out, selling his top floor to another billionaire. And the controversy? It gave way to other priorities... But even today, Tour Grand Bourg embodies this delicate interplay between a prestigious past and a modern present. Observe the light playing on the facades, listen to the breath of the wind. Isn't that the whole charm of Buenos Aires? Ready to discover the rest of your visit?
