Construction and early history

The history of Unzué Palace is documented from the end of the Juan Manuel de Rosas government (1835-1852), when three Englishmen purchased land for the construction of a summer home.^[1] The politician Manuel de Arrotea and his wife, Josefa Vivot, lived in the property for a time. In 1855 the land passed to Mariano Saavedra, son of Cornelio Saavedra, the president of the Primera Junta. He then constructed his own residence on the site, where he held many meetings as Governor of Buenos Aires Province. At this time, the Recoleta neighbourhood was a marginal and semi-rural corner of Buenos Aires, which still only extended to the current Avenida Callao. As such, Saavedra's property was difficult to reach.

Between 1883 and 1887, the house was acquired by Mariano Unzué and his wife Mercedes Baudrix.^[2] This was a time of significant growth in Buenos Aires and brought unprecedented gains for traditional agricultural producing families like the Unzués, and as such Mariano was able to build the Unzué Palace as a great rest residence for his family, alternating between his main home in Calle Florida.

In 1910, during the Centennial International Exposition, Unzué was used as the main site for the Exhibition of Health & Hygiene, which showcased a number of technical advances of the time including the flushing toilet, new sewer systems and medical instruments. The Great Depression of 1930 affected the Argentine agricultural export model significantly, and those famililes who had benefited now lost both income and power, which lead to many being forced to sell their residences. The Argentine state purchased Unzué Palace in 1937 in order to pay off debts, and expropriated the building and its parkland of some 21.154,0345 m², converting them into the presidential residence. In 1938, the president Roberto Marcelino Ortiz decided to found a Garden of Childhood (Jardín de Infancia), moving the school faculty to the site. The building underwent remodelling work until 1942, including adaptations for its function as a Garden of Childhood. However, by December 1942, under the presidency of Ramón Castillo, plans were drawn up to revert its use to that of presidential residence. It wasn't used extensively by presidents however, the first to do so being Edelmiro Farrell, who occasionally resided there on weekends away from the main presidential palace located in downtown Buenos Aires.^[3][4]

The Perón era

Eva Perón leaving the Unzué Palace in 1946

The first president to use the building regularly was Juan Domingo Perón, elected in 1946, who made it his permanent residence. In doing so he moved further away from capital's centre to the more residential neighbourhood of Recoleta, which also gave him easy and quick access to the Casa Rosada. The ground floor was not heavily used. Perón and Evita moved into the first floor, where they had their main and guest bedrooms, dressing rooms, a library, office, a small dining room and servants quarters. A marble «Y» shaped staircase led to upstairs wings to the left and right of the building, which looked out onto a balcony from where you could observe the entire ground floor. There was also a lift which was located on the other side of the property, between the library and golden hall.^[5]

Once her cancer prevented her from travelling to offices in the Legislature Palace where her foundation was based, Eva Perón worked from the Palace, and granted interviews. She ultimately passed away there on 26 July 1952. During her convalescence, many of her supporters gathered at the palace gates, leaving images, candles y letters; and after her death the building acquired a mythical status whilst Perón continued to live there. He remained in Unzué until his overthrow in 1955 by the Revolución Libertadora, when the property was set alight under suspicious circumstances. On 16 September 1955, during aerial bombing, an explosive device landed near Unzué, but it fell in the palace gardens and failed to destroy the property. In the days following the coup d'état, it was set alight and looted by military figures close to the uprising.^[5][2]

Demolition & National Library of Argentina

National Library of Argentina as viewed from Plaza del Lector

In 1956, General Pedro Eugenio Aramburu took control of Argentina, a dictator and enemy of Perón. He decided that Unzué should be completely demolished in 1958.^[6] Aramburu was the first ruling Argentine leader to use the Quinta de Olivos as a presidential residence, which it continues to be to the present day. With the return to democracy under Arturo Frondizi, he drove the construction of the National Library of Argentina on the site of Unzué. The project to design the library was decided through a contest in 1962, ultimately won by Clorindo Testa, Francisco Bullrich and Alicia Cazzaniga. Work progressed slowly, and the building was finally opened to the public by Carlos Menem in 1992. In the library's lobby, a number of bronze plaques recognize both Eva Perón and the demolition of Unzué Palace, as an attempt to erase a part of Argentina's history. A statue of Evita's image stands in the building's gardens on the corner of Avenida del Libertador and Austria.