The Mar del Plata style (, or ) is a vernacular architectural style very popular during the decades between 1935 and 1950 mainly in the

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

resort city of

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...

, but extended to nearby coastal towns like Miramar and

Necochea Necochea is a port and beach city in the southwest of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast, along the mouth of the Quequén Grande River, from Buenos Aires and southwest of Mar del Plata. T ...

. Its influence also spread to other regions of the country like

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Córdoba and Santa Fe.

Origins

The style is also often associated in Argentina with the ''californiano ''("Californian"), another vernacular type of house close connected with the American Mission Revival style. Mar del Plata style's features, however, are more related to the older Mar del Plata's

picturesque Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in ''Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year ...

architecture, an eclectic style already popular among the upper-class people who used to spend summertime in this resort city between 1885 and 1945, and to the American Craftsman style.Aliata, Fernando (2004). ''Diccionario de arquitectura en la Argentina: Estilos, obras, biografías, instituciones, ciudades''. Diario de Arquitectura de Clarín, p. 69. The precursor of the style was the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

-born architectural engineer Alula Baldassarini, who popularized the use of stone on the frontispieces in 1925. Some of these early examples were labeled ''chalet inglés'' ("English bungalow"), a type of

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...

which flourished between 1925 and 1935. Baldassarini also developed a cladding technique known as ''bastón roto ''(''"'''broken stick"), which consisted in rectangular stone bricks irregularly arranged on vertical and horizontal joints. At the beginning of the 20th century, the upward social mobility was quite more dynamic in Mar del Plata than in

itself, paving the road for a strong middle class, based on tourist services, the building industry and a prosperous commerce. It was during this time that a new urban profile was born in the city, not by a process in which guidelines were designed by technocrats, but by a "democratic" one. By the decade of 1940, the construction sector was regarded as the main industry of Mar del Plata. This is the environment in which the Mar del Plata style emerged. The ''

chalet A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-su ...

marplatense'' became the materialization of the middle-class ideals, and it is at crossroads between the upper-class summer picturesque residences and the domestic scale, regarding both its social and architectural

syncretism Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the ...

.Haumont, p. 167 The houses also developed among the immigrants a sense of belonging to their new country. The rise of the style broke the hegemony of Buenos Aires within Argentina's architectural scene.

Features

The chalets were at first the production of builders with a great experience in the building of eclectic style mansions for summer, but without the skills of a real technician. Nonetheless, the first generation of architects and architectural engineers from Mar del Plata, led by young professionals like Auro Tiribelli, Alberto Córsico Piccolini, José V. Coll, Gabriel Barroso or Raúl Camusso played a key role in the consolidation of the style during the late 1930s an early 1940s. Some sources think of architect Tiribelli as the creator of this type of house.Ramella, Nino
Tiribelli's obituary, 5 May 2006
La Capital newspaper The ''chalet marplatense'' is the translation of the main characteristics of the eclecticism to the domestic space:

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tecton ...

stoned facades, monk and nun roof tiles or French tiles,

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d roofs, dormers, blind dormers, attached garage usually with a gable or a dormer on top,

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typical ...

s, blind chimneys, ornamental timber frames or log structures, wooden

lintels A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case of ...

, flowerbeds, front gardens, decorative door ironworks, decorative mission style lanterns and grilles, prominent

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...

and stone-cladded

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

es, commonly vault-shaped or

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

style. The

orthoquartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectoni ...

is also known in Argentina as ''Piedra Mar del Plata'' (Mar del Plata stone), both because its use on the houses of this style and the abundance of sandstone quarries southwest of the city. The orthoquartzite has been proposed for nomination to the

Global Heritage Stone Resource The Global Heritage Stone Resource (GHSR) designation seeks international recognition of natural stone resources that have achieved widespread utilisation in human culture. Details of the "Global Heritage Stone Resource" proposal were first provid ...

. There is the possibility of a subcategorization depending on the main style upon which the ''chalet'' is based. In fact, Alberto Córsico Piccolini used to characterize some of his works as ''normando simplificado'' ("simplified Norman") when the basic design of the houses displays some features of the Norman architecture at domestic scale. The style raised some criticism, mostly because the overlapping of rooms and spaces on a reduced area. This characteristic, however, adds contextual value to the townscape where the chalets are homogeneously grouped, usually

semi-detached A semi-detached house (often abbreviated to semi) is a single-family Duplex (building), duplex dwelling that shares one common party wall, wall with its neighbour. The name distinguishes this style of construction from detached houses, with no sh ...

. Architect and researcher Javier Sáez describes this type of house as one of "domestic ostentation" of the "home of your dreams". He goes even further by coining the phrase "domestic obscenity". Saéz also notices, rather than a syncretism, a conflict between the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

pretense of the facades and the obvious taylorization of the

floor plan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensio ...

Preservation

The neighborhoods of La Perla, Stella Maris, Playa Grande, Punta Mogotes and Alfar have today the main concentrations of Mar del Plata style houses. These seaside areas attracted many middle-class tourists, particularly La Perla, thus the chalet played the dual role of home in winter and house for rent in the summer season. A survey conducted in the earlier 2020s listed more than 1300 picturesque houses only at Stella Maris and La Perla, more than 700 of them Mar del Plata style strictly speaking. The oldest residences built in Sierra de los Padres, a hilly area 12 miles west of the city, are also Mar del Plata style chalets. Mass tourism since the 1950s, however, put at risk the survival of the traditional picturesque architecture in Mar del Plata, including the ''chalet marplatense'', in favour of

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

s. There is a

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

agency which provides

tax A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...

benefits for the owners to secure the maintenance or restoration of the houses and a

handbook A handbook is a type of reference work, or other collection of instructions, that is intended to provide ready reference. The term originally applied to a small or portable book containing information useful for its owner, but the ''Oxford Eng ...

with

preservation Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

guidelines, created by

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Lorena Marina Sánchez.Sánchez, Lorena Marina:
Chaleterapia. Estructura administrativa municipal para la preservación de los chalecitos "estilo Mar del Plata"
' The inadequate preservation of the style has also been perceived as a threat to both the city's identity and its green spaces. The style gives a distinctiveness to Mar del Plata's urban environment and marks Mar del Plata's transition from a seasonal resort town into a permanent city.

Gallery

File:Chalet-Arnl.jpg, Typical vault-shaped porch on front, false front gable, attached garage with dormer on top and chimney File:Chalet-S.jpg, A very similar arrangement showing signs of what Lorena Marina Sánchez describes as ''ataque orgánico'' or deterioration by

mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures that certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal ...

fungiSánchez, Lorena Marina
''Chaleterapia''
A preservation guide File:Chalet-Esn.jpg, Yet another example featuring a vault-shaped, stone cladded porch on front with false gable hidden by a tree top and false chimney File:ChaletEsqRawson.jpg, Porch propped up by a stylized wooden beam, windows with wooden lintels and roof ending in prominent eaves File:Chalet-MDQ-Garay.jpg, Another two-story chalet with hipped roof and dormer File:Chalet-SP.jpg, Arch-shaped porch with wooden double gate and a flowerbed at the facade File:Chalet-32.jpg, A Mar del Plata style chalet featuring some Norman characteristics (also known in Spanish as ''normando simplificado'') File:Chalet-Guemes.jpg, A facade resembling those of the Basque traditional houses, with a two-sided roof File:Museo del mar 2.jpg, A refurnished chalet, until 2012 home to the '' Museo del Mar'' (Museum of the Sea). Owned by Globant company as of 2024 File:Chalet Costa Norte.jpg, A Mar del Plata style house with an ample, arched porche and a white orthoquartzite facade. One of the few extant on the city's sea front still in original conditions by 2025 File:Chalet Guemes al sur.jpg, A full stone-cladded chalet with a rectangular, long layout and "embedded" portico-style porch File:Chalet neomarplatense en Parque Luro.jpg, A recently built 'revivalist' Mar del Plata style house in Parque Luro, in the northern outskirts of Mar del Plata File:Chalet vintage Rawson yJujuy.jpg, A refurnished early example of Mar del Plata style house File:Esquina rústica.jpg, A "rustic" example of Mar del Plata style house File:Chalet Estacion.jpg, Typical arrangement of attached garage with gable above

Citations

General and cited references

* Gómez Crespo, Raúl Arnaldo, Cova, Roberto Osvaldo (1982). ''Arquitectura marplatense: el pintoresquismo'' . Editorial del Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de Historia de la Arquitectura y del Urbanismo. * Haumont, Nicole (1998). ''L'urbain dans tous ses états: faire, vivre et dire la ville'' . Collection Habitat et sociétés, Harmattan. . * Sáez, Javier A. (1997). ''La máquina promiscua. El Estilo Mar del Plata y la formación del espacio doméstico entre 1935 y 1950'' . Chapter VII "Mar del Plata, Ciudad e Historia". Alianza Editorial. . * Sánchez, Lorena Marina
''Chaleterapia''
A preservation guide * Sánchez, Lorena Marina (2008)
"Patrimonio modesto en movimiento: diálogos urbanos entre historia social e arquitectura"
. ''

Vitruvius Vitruvius ( ; ; –70 BC – after ) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled . As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissan ...

'' magazine.

External links

Colegio de Arquitectos de la Provincia de Bs As, Dist 9, Centro Documental: Incomplete collection of issues of ''La Arquitectura Marplatense''
a journal published by the Centro de Constructores & Anexos of Mar del Plata including material from the 1930-1940s period * {{Commons category inline, Mar del Plata style 20th-century architectural styles Architecture in Argentina Buildings and structures in Mar del Plata Eclectic architecture House styles House types Mar del Plata Sandstone houses Vernacular architecture