America Cultural Centre () is a significant building in

Salta, Argentina Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Argentine province of the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the 7th most-populous city in Argentina. The city serves as the cultural and economic c ...

History

In 1958, the Social Club 20 de Febrero was inaugurated. In 1908, they decided to build their own building. So, in 1910, the engineer and architect Arturo Prins created the project; the engineers and architects Correa and Cornejo continued with the construction. It was finally inaugurated in 1913. Access to this building was limited, and the partners of this association had to pay $1500 per share for its construction. From 1950 until 1987, the building was expropriated for use as the

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and British Overseas Territories. The name is also used in some other countries. Government Houses in th ...

of the province. Since then, the building has been used for cultural activities under the name of America Cultural Center. Access to these areas was free and was limited. Its restoration began in 1987 under the Department of Architectural Heritage and Preservation of Salta (DePAUS). It was financed by the community and the government of the province.

Location

The building was built on a plot of land belonging to the Jesuit Church. It is a part of the Monumental Complex of Plaza 9 de Julio in

Architecture and design

It is decorated with ornamental details in walls and ceilings; the floor has venetian

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

s and

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

parquet Parquet (; French for "a small compartment") is a geometric mosaic of wood pieces used for decorative effect in flooring. Parquet patterns are often entirely geometrical and angular—squares, triangles, lozenges—but may contain curves. T ...

from

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. Its

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...

consists of hidden shapes of iron that were imported from England. This building has

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...

s of ceramic flooring blocks; it also has brick walls. The columns have plinths of marble from Botticino pilasters. The cornices, moldings and plaster sconces are made with vegetable fibers from the area ( chaguar). The basement originally served as

fencing Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...

rooms,

locker room A locker is a small, usually narrow storage compartment. They are commonly found in dedicated cabinets, very often in large numbers, in various public places such as Changing room, locker rooms, workplaces, schools, transport hubs and the like ...

confectionery Confectionery is the Art (skill), art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates, although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two bro ...

and

hairdressing A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A hairdresser may also be r ...

. There was a hall, a bar, a library, a

billiard room A billiard room (also billiards room, or more specifically pool room, snooker room) is a recreation room, such as in a house or recreation center, with a billiards, pool or snooker table (The term "billiard room" or "pool room" may also be use ...

and a lounge on the ground floor. On the first floor, there were a

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called ''balls''. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially histori ...

, meeting rooms and offices. It is currently used as a

convention center A convention center (American and British English spelling differences, American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a Convention (meeting), convention, where individuals and groups ...

References

External links

*{{Cite web , title=Centro Cultural América , website= Secretaría de Cultura de Salta, Argentina , url=https://www.culturasalta.gov.ar/organismos/centro-cultural-america/45 , access-date=2024-03-03 Buildings and structures in Salta Province