Modern Architecture of Montevideo

Twentieth-century architecture is the main strength of Uruguay’s capital. Noteworthy examples of building styles from the 1920s to the 1950s can be found across the city. I visited a selection of them on a self-designed walking tour, divided into three clusters.

Cluster 1: Old City

The Old City isn’t the nicest part of town, especially outside of office hours. It does hold some fine buildings though:

• Edificio Centenario: its form fits its position on a street corner. Considered expressionist.
• Palacio Salvo (Photo 1): once the tallest structure in South America, and still its 95m tall tower is the landmark of the city center. Its eclectic style combines Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Neo-Baroque.
• Palacio Rinaldi: across the street from the Salvo, dwarfed by it but has fine Art Deco façade reliefs.
• Palacio New York: small building with a pretty Art Deco entrance.
• Palacio Lapido (Photo 2) also on the main boulevard, Avenida 18th July. 12 floors that curve around a corner.

Cluster 2: Parque José Batlle y Ordoñez

I then took an Uber to bridge the 5km to the area around Parque José Batlle y Ordoñez. This is the only cluster that is specifically mentioned in the official tentative site description:

• Parque: the park offers all kinds of sports and recreation areas, including a velodrome. It is also used commonly by driving schools – lots of corners to practice and hardly any traffic!
• Estadio Centenario: Uruguay’s …

I found it extremely difficult to find out what is exactly meant to be included in this proposed nomination: the most obvious candidates - the Art Deco ensemble in the city centre for which Montevideo is known do not seem to be included. The only building explicitly mentioned in the description is the Hostpital de Clinicas, which is a rationalist concrete monster from the 50ies. Residences surrounding the Park Batllo y Ordonez are mentioned without naming the specific buildings. Perhaps the nearby Estadio Centenario (Centennial Stadium) with its rationalist viewing tower from the 30ies would be included too.

I personally didn't find any of the buildings surrounding the park, which seems to be the centre of the proposed nomination, to be especially worthy of a visit. Additionally, I could not find out about any special significance of these buildings for the history of architecture. It would be interesting to see how Uruguay proceeds with this nomination if it ever does.

Montevideo is known for its Ciudad Vieja (Old City) which is mostly in Art Deco style with Palacio Selvo as the most iconic building. When I visited Uruguay Palacio Selvo was not open to visitors. It had antennas hanging over its top which made any attempt to take a decent photo of the monument fail. On postcards some photo shop was discretely applied to remove it. Now I read they are planning to dismantle the antenna.

The Ciudad Vieja is not spectacular and despite the fact it is the only such example of Art Deco I visited I guess there are other better examples available.