Argentina, Florida Street. The Güemes Gallery in Buenos Aires. Shopping walk.

Argentina, Florida Street. The Güemes Gallery in Buenos Aires. Shopping walk.
Like other Galleries from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, the Güemes Gallery was conceived in the style of large European spaces, which were places for meeting, recreation and where, in addition to shopping, social events took place; they were the predecessors of the current shopping malls.
The Güemes Gallery building is considered one of the first skyscrapers in Buenos Aires with its 87 meters high. The visitor of those years was surprised by the variety of uses and functions that it housed inside. In the basement there is a theater and an important meeting room and restaurant. On the ground floor the Gallery with shops and varied gastronomy. From the first floor offices, and from the 6th level were the fully furnished apartments that were temporarily rented. Upon reaching the 14th floor, one was in front of the confectionery that had views of the city and where the chords of an orchestra that played from an internal balcony of the room sounded. Four levels above the viewpoint, the highest point in the city for several years with a unique 360 degree view in the heart of the city.
All this accompanied by technical displays such as elevators capable of traveling 140 meters in 60 seconds, fire-fighting systems that pumped up to 24,000 liters per hour and that were activated through electric alarms located on the ground floor and in the basement. The different sectors had refrigeration, heating and forced ventilation, and even the luminous board that informed about the occupation of the offices was a talk because it was indiscreet.
A system of pneumatic tubes served as the building's internal mail.
No less impact was caused by the combination of natural and artificial lighting of the vault and the bronzework of the passage, or the bronzework details of the shop windows and elevator doors.
The theater had seats mounted on a reinforced concrete slab that, in turn, had a pivoting support capable of changing the slope of the room.
The whole made a truly futuristic impression considering that it was the year 1915.