Centro Naval, Buenos Aires

OUR GOOD FRIEND Tori Truett sends greetings from Buenos Aires where she is visting relatives and her salutation sparked a number of memories from my all-too-short time down there. One of these memories was being relieved upon by a bird whilst pottering about the market of San Telmo one afternoon (it remains the only time I have suffered the indignity of such an aerial bombardment). The good city, however, has more beautiful buildings than the Big Apple, both in quality and quantity. Their good buildings are better than ours, but then their ugly buildings are even uglier. (As terrible as the Whitney Museum is, I doubt it matches the Biblioteca Nacional for sheer vulgarity).

As it happens, one of my favourite buildings in Buenos Aires is the Centro Naval, the naval officers’ club at the corner of Florida and Córdoba across from the famous Galerias Pacificos shopping center. The Centro was founded in 1882 by officers of the Argentine Navy not only as a social club but also as an institute for the advancement of naval sciences and military professionalism. Naval officers naturally make up the bulk of its membership, but there are also academics, men of the press, and various other civilians. While 801 Florida is the central seat of the Centro Naval, the club has other seats at Núñez, Olivos, and Tigre, all in the Province of Buenos Aires, which provide facilities for sailing, swimming, rugby, football, golf and other activities not possible at the small though grand city quarters.

I remember strolling down Calle Florida one day and spotting two positively ancient old men of the sea, chests proudly bedecked in medals, helping eachother down the steps of the front entrance of the Centro Naval. Each looked as if, but for the counterbalancing presence of the other, they would both have tumbled down into the street below.

The doors are covered with intricate gilded ironwork depicting nautical miscellany of both a mythical and a martial nature.

The building houses a bar, restaurant, café, library, and gymnasium, as well as a firing range in the basement and a number of halls and rooms for events. A sauna and barbershop can also be found in the basement, a tailor can be found on the fifth floor, and a medical doctor on the third floor for three days of the week. Chess is played in the Reading Hall from 10:00 to 1:00 on weekdays, bridge is played in the seventh floor hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:00 until 8 o’clock in the evening, while fencing is one of the most popular activities available onsite. Concerts take place on the first Tuesday of every month from April to December.

Behind these windows is the Salón Almirante Brown (interior below), the largest room in the building, named in commemoration of Almirante Guillermo Brown, the Father of the Argentine Navy. Guillermo Brown was born William Brown in the town of Foxford in County Mayo. Due to his Hibernian origins, the lovely march ‘St. Patrick’s Day’ is one of the favoured tunes of the Band of the Argentine Navy. (It is also the official quick march of the Irish Guards).

The illuminated Centro Naval at night

An overall view of the Centro Naval.

The club viewed from Calle Florida.