Mario Palanti (September 20, 1885 – September 4, 1978) was an Italian architect who designed important buildings in the capital cities of both

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

Life and career

Born in 1885 in

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Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, the brother of painter Giuseppe Palanti, Palanti studied architecture in the Brera Academy and in the Politecnico di Milano university. Mario was the son of Giovanni Palanti, a carpenter, and of Virginia De Gasperi, a dressmaker. (PhD dissertation) Soon after graduation he received a gold medal at the International Exhibition in Brussels and arrived in

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 ...

in 1909 with a commission to manage, with the help of his compatriot, Francisco Gianotti, the construction of the Italian Pavilion for the Exposición Internacional del Centenario (1910). For nearly 20 years he worked on both sides of the River Plate for wealthy compatriot clients. During the period 1909-1919 his designs employed variations of Renaissance Revival and

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

styles and there then followed a period during which he carried out his most impressive work in Buenos Aires including Palacio Barolo and Hotel Castelar, both in Avenida de Mayo; an apartment building on the corner of Santa Fe Avenue and Callao Avenue; and Palacio Chrysler (today known as Palacio Alcorta) which had an automobile test track on its roof, similar to the first

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factory in

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. During this period he also designed the Palacio Salvo in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, and produced a large number of drawings for monumental buildings that were never built. In the final period of his work, after he returned to live in Italy in 1930, he undertook a series of projects that never materialised. He was the inventor of Palandomus. Palanti died in his native

in 1978. He was interred in the Civico Mausoleo Palanti, a Cimitero Monumentale di Milano mausoleum for notable local citizens of his own design.

Notable works

Orders

Order of the Crown of Italy The Order of the Crown of Italy ( or OCI) was founded as a national order in 1868 by King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II, to commemorate Italian unification, the unification of Italy in 1861. It was awarded in five degrees for ...

, Commander

Bibliography

* Mario Palanti, ''Prima esposizione personale d'architettura nella Repubblica Argentina'', Milano, Stab. di arti grafiche Rizzoli e Pizzio, 191

Università di Bologna * Mario Palanti, ''Cinque anni di lavoro'', Casa Editrice de Arte Bestetti & Tumminelli, 1924 - 152 pagine * Mario Palanti, ''Auditorium: progetti'', Roma, anno XIII E.F., Editore Rizzoli, 1935 - 33 pagine * Mario Palanti, ''Torre Littoria: progetti'', Milano, anno XIII E.F, Editore Rizzoli, 1935 - 46 pagine * Mario Palanti, ''Architettura per tutti'', editore E. Bestetti, 1946 - 303 pagine * Mimi Böhm, Buenos Aires, Art Nouveau, Ediciones Xavier Verstraeten, Buenos Aires, 2005.

References

External links