Buenos Aires is
a city full of surprises
.
In the least expected place, it reveals a different, unexpected facet.
An example of this is
its gardens
.
Not the parks or squares, but the
hidden gardens
.
Those that are inside buildings and that allow those who are fortunate enough to discover them to find
an oasis in the middle of the cement, a trip to another part or another time
.
Several of these gems are in public buildings, but others are on private properties that you can access to browse or stay a while to enjoy them.
Here, a guide to hidden gardens to discover this summer.
National Museum of Decorative Art
The
Errázuriz Palace
is a jewel of Buenos Aires, one of the most luxurious and elegant in the City, designed in 1915 by the French architect René Sergent for the Errázuri couple, who lived 10 years in Europe and there formed the collection of European art and oriental that the current museum displays.
Its fabulous garden was designed by another Frenchman, Achile Duchêne, the most renowned landscape designer of the first half of the 20th century.
The entrance to the National Museum of Decorative Art, on the corner of Av. Del Libertador and Pereyra Lucena.
Photo Archive
These gardens, where the Ionic capitals of Carrara marble stand out, evoke a Buenos Aires of another time, with a pond in which swans swam and which was visited by the famous dancer Ana Pavlova, as Errázuriz described it in her memoirs.
The gardens can be visited at Av. del Libertador 1902 from Wednesday to Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. (last entry at 6:00 p.m.), but not if it rains or has recently rained.
There is also a cafe at the entrance.
Enrique Larreta Museum
It is one of the most famous
Andalusian gardens
in Buenos Aires.
The summer home of the writer and collector Enrique Larreta has been a museum of Spanish art since his death in 1962, and the patio is a pearl that deserves a tour in itself.
It has almost 6,000 square meters in the heart of Belgrano, inspired by Spanish-Islamic gardens such as the Alhambra in Granada.
Its two fountains, Las Ranas and Patio del Naranjo, are an invitation to disconnect.
And its tiles, to explore every detail.
The gardens of the Larreta Museum in Belgrano.
Photo Marcelo Carroll / Archive
Admission is $500 (free for retirees, university students, children under 12 and people with disabilities), but
on Wednesdays it is free
.
Open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. On the fourth Thursday of each month at 12 noon and the first Saturday of each month at 3 p.m., there is a guided tour without prior registration. included in the entrance (it is suspended due to rain).
Entry is through Oath 2291.
Fernandez Blanco Museum
The Noel Palace was built in 1920 by the architect Martín Noel, who was also its first owner.
It has one of the most important collections of Hispanic American art in the world, and a wonderful Spanish-inspired garden, where artistic installations and cultural activities are usually held in spring and summer.
Also, recently opened a restaurant and cafe.
The gardens of the Fernández Blanco Museum.
Photo Ariel Grinberg
It is worth enjoying the contrast between the neocolonial building, the skyscrapers that surround it and the green vegetation of the garden, which can be entered for free.
Admission to the museum costs 100 pesos and on weekends there are guided tours at 4 p.m., without prior registration, included in the ticket.
Suipacha 1422.
Ricardo Rojas House Museum
The house of the writer and journalist and his wife Julieta Quinteros became a museum in 1958. Its main garden is
one of the most unique in Buenos
Aires, an example of the eclecticism in which the replica frontispiece of the Dominican Convent of Arequipa coexists ( a jewel of neocolonial style), indigenous and Hispanic figures, Greek columns and in the center a fountain of Spanish tradition guarded by rose bushes.
The gardens of the Ricardo Rojas House Museum.
Photo Jorge Sánchez / Archive
“They are symbols that identify with Rojas' conception of an Argentina inserted in the rest of the American nations born of cultural miscegenation,” the museum's website describes it.
The house also has an Andalusian-style winter garden and an orange tree garden at the back.
With free admission, it opens from Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Charcas 2837.
Duhau Park Hyatt Palace
Today it is a
luxurious five-star hotel
, but it used to be the residence that the architect León Dourge built in 1934 for the Duhau family.
The property runs from Alvear Street (where the Palace is, an exponent of the late Belle Epoque of Buenos Aires) to Posadas, where the landlord's house used to be and now the rooms of the new hotel tower are located.
The terraced garden of the Duhau Palace, a rarity in Recoleta that is in a hotel and anyone can visit.
Photo Duhau Palace Park Hyatt
But in the middle, there is a unique
terraced garden
in the city, with a wonderful view, which can be enjoyed from the hotel restaurants.
But you can also enter for free to visit both the garden and the art exhibition that is exhibited in the underground corridor that connects the two wings and is renewed every three months.
Paul French Gallery
This property in Palermo was built 90 years ago and originally a wine and oil factory operated there.
Later it was a warehouse and car restoration workshop, and today it brings together several private ventures in the same space: a nursery, a cafeteria and a decoration shop.
Paul French Gallery, a particular gallery in Palermo.
Photo Fernando de la Orden
You can visit any of them or just
tour the gallery
, which is defined as “an oasis in the center of the city.”
It is open from Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and on holidays from 2 p.m. at Gorriti 4865.
ACE