Luis Barolo, a progressive and influential agricultural producer, arrived in Argentina in 1890. He was the first to import cotton spinning machinery and concentrated on the importation of textiles. He installed the first combed wool spinning equipment and initiated the cultivation of cotton in the province of Chaco.
During the Centennial of the May Revolution he met the architect Mario Palanti (1885-1979), whom he contracted for the project of a building he had in mind. This property would be exclusively for rental purposes. Luis Barolo, like all Europeans living in Argentina at the time, believed that Europe would witness a series of wars that would destroy the continent. Anxious to preserve the remains of the famous Italian poet Dante Aligheri, he wanted to construct a building inspired by the poet’s work, “The Divine Comedy”. The plot chosen for the palace had an area of 1365 square meters, with a street frontage of 30.88 meters, located between Avenida de Mayo 1370 and Victoria (today Hipólito Yrigoyen). The building would have 16,630 square meters of covered area. Construction began in 1919 for what would be the tallest structure in Latin America, and one of the tallest in the world, made of reinforced concrete.
Built on 24 levels (22 floors and 2 basements), its height of 100 meters was made possible by a special concession granted by the mayor Luis Cantilo in 1921, since it was almost four times the maximum permitted on the avenue at the time. The height of the cupola is 90 meters, reaching 100 meters with the addition of the rotating lighthouse with a candle power of 300,000, visible from Uruguay, across the River Plate, and powered by its own generator. In the 1920s the building would be what today is called an “intelligent building”.
Two freight elevators and nine passenger elevators (two of which are hidden) were installed, the latter dedicated to the commercial activities of Barolo. Merchandise arrived by way of the freight elevators located on what today is Hipólito Yrigoyen Street, and was transferred to the two basement areas of 1500 square meters each. From the basement, Barolo used the hidden elevators to reach his offices on the ground, 1st and 2nd floors, thus avoiding contact with the renters who occupied offices beginning on the 3rd floor.
From the beginning the Palacio created a certain confusion in reference to its style, being called Italian “remorse”, gothic romantic, sand castle, or quasi Venetian Gothic. Construction was finished in 1923 and on June 7 was blessed by the papal representative Monseñor Giovanni Beda Cardinali.
The news agency “Saporitti” functioned on the ground floor until it ceased operations. At present the building is exclusively dedicated to office rentals.