Pedro Benoit | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | February 18, 1836 |
| Died | April 4, 1897 (aged 61) |
| Nationality | Argentine |
| Occupation(s) | Engineer and urban planner |
| Known for | Master plan for the city of La Plata |
Pedro Benoit (February 18, 1836 – April 4, 1897) was an Argentine architect, engineer, and urbanist best known for designing the layout of La Plata City.
Pedro Benoit was born in Buenos Aires in 1836 to María Josefa de las Mercedes Leyes and Pierre Benoît ', a French émigré who had left his homeland following the Bourbon Restoration. His father, a trained architect, engineer and topographer instilled his interests in his son, who enrolled in 1850 at the Topography and Geodesics School of the Department of Engineering of the Province of Buenos Aires. [1]
Gaining his first professional experience designing pontoon bridges for the Argentine Army, Benoit was contracted as a surveyor for the city of Buenos Aires. In this capacity, in 1858 he planned the first road to Ensenada, a harbor town 35 miles (56 km) south of Buenos Aires. The young surveyor was inducted into a local Freemason lodge in 1858 and the following year, he was commissioned by prominent local landowner Juan Dillon to design the urban layout for what became Merlo (a suburb west of Buenos Aires). [2]
Benoit designed Merlo following patterns similar to those used by Pierre L'Enfant to design Washington, DC. Benoit relocated to the city he helped build, designing for it the first school and the Church of Our Lady of Mercy in 1863, still the city's central Roman Catholic church; Benoit's professed Freemasonry caused the Bishop of Buenos Aires, Monsignor Mariano Escalada, to deny the new parish a priest, however. [3]
Benoit continued his duties as Director of the Department of Topography, planning the rectification of the Riachuelo River flowing south of Buenos Aires, then prone to flooding. His diverse training allowed Benoit an appointment to Merlo's Committee on Public Health in 1867, when he designed the Santa Isabel Cemetery. Remaining at the Topography Department, he plotted a tramway line between Ensenada and Tolosa, two small cities southeast of Buenos Aires. A prominent Spanish Argentine landowner, Manuel Rodríguez Fragio, commissioned Benoit in 1872 to design the master plan for another new city, Ituzaingó (not far from Merlo), and towards 1880, Benoit returned to Buenos Aires to help design the new ramparts for what would later become Puerto Madero. These efforts earned him the honor of Lieutenant Colonel of the Argentine Corps of Engineers. [3]
Ongoing resentment over the apportionment of rapidly growing customs duties from the main port led to a failed insurrection in the Province of Buenos Aires against the newly elected administration of President Julio Roca in 1880. The province's voters, however, elected a candidate in 1881 who, despite his disadvantage in belonging to Roca's PAN, articulated a message of political integration with the suddenly prosperous Argentina: Dardo Rocha. Facing ongoing secessionist pressures from his constituency, Governor Rocha proposed the creation of a new provincial capital in replacement of the city of Buenos Aires, which was federalized as the nation's capital in 1880. The proposal, useful to the mollification of the province's Independence-leaning gentry, was quickly approved by Congress. [3] [4]
Governor Rocha commissioned Benoit to plan the new city, which became the renowned urbanist's most ambitious project. Named La Plata after its mention in José Hernández's epic Martín Fierro , the city was planned by Benoit in a regular pattern of diagonals and precisely-placed squares.
Benoit chose to echo the design of Buenos Aires in his plan for La Plata, particularly in his use of diagonals, small squares, and architectural styles. [5] Some technical details, such as the cemetery location at the far end of a road that begins at the Río de la Plata, have been noted as containing deep symbolism for life beginning in the water and ending in the east. [5]
Benoit, as technical director of the urbanist project, designed most of the early public buildings in La Plata, as well. His designs for the La Plata Observatory, Economy Ministry, Police Headquarters, Engineering Department and Governors' Offices were completed shortly after the city's November 19, 1882, christening. Giving the city its first house of worship, the Church of Saint Pontian, Benoit designed the Cathedral of La Plata with Ernesto Meyer (the architect of the German Renaissance revivalist City Hall) in 1884. The Neogothic cathedral, the second-largest of its kind in the world, was only completed in 1999. He also designed La Plata Cemetery (established 1886). The tireless urbanist was also commissioned to design master plans for Quilmes, San Pedro and Mercedes, all important cities in the Province of Buenos Aires. [6]
His master plan for the city earned Benoit two gold medals at the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition, where it was honored as the "City of the Future." Benoit was elected to the La Plata City Council the following year, during which he designed his city's great seal, and as Mayor in 1893. Keeping a busy schedule, he also accepted a post as the Director of the Provincial Mortgage Bank and as the first Dean of the School of Engineering in the newly created University of La Plata, in 1897.
The strain proved too much for Benoit, however, who died suddenly that year, at age 61. [7] He is buried in La Recoleta Cemetery.
La Plata is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the 2022 census, it has a population of 772.618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938.287 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers inland from the southern shore of the Río de la Plata estuary.
The La Plata Astronomical Observatory is an observatory located in the city of La Plata, capital of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Its IAU code is 839.
A partido is the second-level administrative subdivision only in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. They are formally considered to be a single administrative unit, usually contain one or more population centers, and are divided into localidades. The subdivision in partidos in Buenos Aires Province is distinct from all other provinces of Argentina, which call their second-level subdivisions departamento and are further subdivided into distinct municipalities.
Morón is a city in the Argentine province of Buenos Aires, capital of the Morón partido, located in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, at 34°39′S58°37′W. Located 20 km (13 mi) west of Downtown Buenos Aires, Morón is easily reached via bus along Avenida Rivadavia, via National Highway 7, and the Sarmiento railway line.
Ensenada Partido is a district of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, belonging to the Greater La Plata area, just south of the Gran Buenos Aires urban conglomerate.
Merlo is the head town of the eponymous partido of Merlo and seat of the municipal government, located in the Greater Buenos Aires urban area of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.
The Buenos Aires & Ensenada Port Railway (BA&EP) was a British-owned company that built and operated a 5 ft 6 in broad gauge railway network in Argentina towards the end of the nineteenth century. The company was taken over by its rival the British-owned Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway (BAGS) in 1898.
The Ensenada de Barragán is a small bay on the Río de la Plata, some 40 kilometres (25 mi) southeast of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The area is in the Ensenada district of Buenos Aires province, centred on the city of the Ensenada. The old cove has partly silted since the 17th century, and the area is now considered to be part of Isla Santiago.
The La Plata Museum is a natural history museum in La Plata, Argentina. It is part of the Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo of the National University of La Plata.
Dardo Rocha was an Argentine naval officer, lawyer and politician best known as the founder of the city of La Plata and of the University of La Plata.
Luis Augusto Huergo was an Argentine engineer prominent in the development of his country's ports.
La Plata City Hall is the executive seat of government of the city of La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.
Events in the year 1884 in Argentina.
Francisco López de Osornio Merlo was a Spanish military leader and landowner, who served during the Viceroyalty of Peru as Captain of the provincial militias of Buenos Aires.
Jorge Fernández-Trevejo Rivas is a Cuban artist, painter, and caricaturist. He currently resides in Argentina.
Francisco de Merlo (1693-1758) was a Spanish notary and politician, who served during the Viceroyalty of Peru as Notary Mayor of the Government of Buenos Aires. He was the founder of the city of Merlo, and also took part in the foundation of Montevideo in the Banda Oriental.
Mar del Plata is a former railway station in the homonymous city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Opened in 1886, the station was closed when the new railway and bus terminal was opened in 2011.
Itala Fulvia Villa (1913–1991) was an Argentinian architect whose main forte was city planning. She was an integral part of creating and designing the urban model for the city of Buenos Aires. As part of urbanization process, she designed and built a plan for the neighborhood known as Bajo Flores, where Pope Francis grew up, for which she received first prize in the 6th National Exhibition of Architecture Fair in 1945. In 1979, she was a representative of the Argentina Federation of University Women.
The Cemetery of La Plata is one of the most important cemeteries in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is located on the intersection of Avenue 31, 72 and diagonal 74 in Altos de San Lorenzo, La Plata. It was declared Cultural Heritage and Memorial of Buenos Aires Province.
Mar del Plata Sud is a former railway station in the city of Mar del Plata in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Built and managed by the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway, the station was conceived as an alternative to the original Mar del Plata station built in 1886, only to operate during Summer seasons. The station was inaugurated in 1910. Soon after the Government led by Juan Perón nationalised the entire railway network, the station was closed to reduce costs.
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