Field Trip to Palacio Paz - Circulo Militar

We , the Senior Missionaries, took a field trip yesterday to see the Palacio Paz, which is facing Plaza San Martin in Barrio Retiro, a district of Buenos Aires.  Karen and I were able to take a bus directly from just across the street from our office building to half a block from the entrance to the Palacio.  

A statue of San Martin is in the center of Plaza San Martin directly in front of Palacio Paz

José C. Paz, the owner of the city´s second most circulated newspaper, LA PRENSA contracted French architect Louis sortais to design the house for his family of nine.  Sixty servants worked in the home.  The building began in 1902 and ended two years after the death of Paz in 1914. 

The house was built entirely from materials imported from France, beautiful marble, mahogany and oak, among other things. The size is also impressive  12,000 square meters in the house.  That´s 129166.925 square feet! (I don´t do math so I went to my favorite calculator / converter online: http://easycalculation.com/unit-conversion/area-unit-conversion.php)

 If you haven{t tried this website  you should, it will calculate pretty much anything and has all kinds of really cool items on it!

While I am talking about websites, you can get more information and better photos of the stained glass at : 

http://www.palaciopaz.com.ar/ There is a map of where it is in Retiro and information about cost 55 pesos for our tour, and hours.

Avenida Santa Fe has the main Entrance to both the Palacio Paz , on the left and the  Military Officers´Association founded in 1881 and built in 1938 where the garage and stables had been.

 The Military Officers´Association, a social club, was founded by Nicolás Levalle, an Argentine Officer in the Army.  He thought a facility like the social club would ease tensions among the officers during a time with problems in the provinces..

Oops, I moved too soon.  I like the picture, it kind of looks like there are spirits moving in the house.

Here are the stairs into the house...without the ghosts.

The house is full of beautiful light fixtures.  Here is Doug Knapp checking out one in the entry.

There are many marble statues throughout the residence.

Just one of a miriad of stain glass windows.  This one is on a staircase.

Our guide, Silvina, gave the English tour.  She was very knowledgeable and really funny as well.

Got a picture of the sword, forgot to see who it belonged to.  I assume it was General Paz´s .

I love the hardward in this place.  This is the lock to the large windows.

My immediate reaction to this room was, "We´re in Versailles!"  

 Silvina told us that much of the house was designed to look like a smaller version of the Palace of Versailles outside Paris, France.  Versailles was the Palace for Louis XIV, the Sun King and you can see his pattern of the sun in many parts of the residence.

Here´s the attentive audience.  L-R Bill and Robin Ashton, Noel Raymond, John Switzer, Vickie and Dan Smith, Janet and Doug Knapp and Karen Casos

The Ballroom looking toward the balcony where the musicians would have been

The floors in each room have different patterns in the Parquet designs.

Here is the balcony where the musicians would be.  

There is a staircase from another room so they could enter and leave without disturbing the guests.

The lighting in the house made taking photos difficult.  The halls and rooms were dark, but the lights and chandeliers were so very bright that the contrast messed with my photos.  Some took a long time to click and if I wasn´t perfectly still, they are a bit blurry.

Along this grand hallway there are a lot of beautiful pieces of furniture.  

Me on my "Throne"

Grandfather clock

I have NO idea what this was for...perhaps storing dinnerware or linens as this was the dining room.

Beautiful electrified chandeliered.

Amazing Fireplaces, although the entire house was given central heating from the beginning, and all the heating still works.

 You will see that although the house is equipped with cental heating we are still in our coats.  We had a couple of days last week that were into the high 80´s so they turned it off and haven´t turned it back on!

The lock is hidden in the mouth of the lion!

Most of the doors were really tall.  A few were fake and some were really smaller when you opened the tall door.

You can see here that the door appears to be tall, but the entry  is short.  The mirrored door in this, the music room was totally fake.  It just looks like a door.

Another great door!  It is curved and will not lose its shape because it was cut  from the curved part of the trunk of a  huge tree.

Silvina was very concerned about me and keep telling me that I could sit whenever and wherever I wanted...so I did!

Stairs for the servants hidden behind a door.

I actually took this picture myself in the mirrored wall.  You can see L-R Robin and Bill Ashton with Janice Switzer in the background between them,  La Dee Raymond in the back and Vickie Smith next to me has her back to the camera.  Behind me is Evelyn Candland.

One of several frescos in the "Ladies Room"...not a bathroom, but an afterdinner room for the ladies when the men were in the "Smoking Room"

Looking upward into the chandelier that is also below

I tried to use Picture Maker to bring up the stained glass edging on this window, but the contrast is really  difficult to work with.  If you go to 

Another staircase..I really like the staircases in this place!

Can you see the pantlegs in the fireplace...that´s Noel Raymond and John Switzer playing Santas.

Here is Stuart Candland snapping a photo of his wife, Evelyn in the fireplace...it was really deep!

This was the Presidental Office.  Several are looking up to see the ceiling.  It is NOT domed although the star pattern gives that appearance.

 Paz wanted to be president and thought he should have an appropriate residence including an office with a separate entry so his secretary didn´t have to come through the house where the family lived.

Painting in the Presidential Office

Pocket door with stained glass window in the door.

 If you walk out past the pocket door it appears you are in a hallway with another door, but surprise, another ruse.  It looks like a door, but it is a window.

Elevator

This is the reception area where the family (remember he thought he was going to become President) could greet their important guests.  The doors open out onto a patio and behind that originally were the garage and stables.

 In the Reception area everything is in the sun pattern of Louis XIV.  You can see it in the ceiling and the floors.  This area was not completed.  It was supposed to have frescos and a marble statue in every alcove. There are only two statues.

Staircase off the Reception Area

Looking upward in the Reception area staircase

I have several shots of the exterior.  This is looking towards where the former stables were.

Here we all are on the stairs, 

Servants quarters were up where those dormer windows are at the top.

I liked this statue.  It reminded me of a painting my grandmother had called "Weeping Woman"

 This statue is in memory of a drummer boy, Pedro Rios, who died in the battle of Combaye in 1811

The exterior does NOT look like Versailles....It is designed in the same style as the Louvre Museum in Paris.  The Louvre was also a Royal Palace and residence before it was a museum.