Barrio Parque or Palermo Chico is a residential subzone of the Palermo neighborhood of the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Adjacent to the south with the Recoleta neighborhood, Avenida del Libertador delimits the Palermo sub-area, between Tagle and Cavia streets, and the railroad tracks. It is one of the most sought-after areas of the city.
It was designed in 1912 by the landscape architect Carlos Thays (director of Parks and Public Walks) who envisioned a different Buenos Aires, with a neighborhood of curves and diagonals, and a lot of native vegetation. In its beginnings it was known as the Grand Bourg District.
Taking advantage of the land used in the Centennial celebrations in 1910 for the Industrial Exhibition held that year, Thays projected two sectors differentiated by the design of its streets on one side and on the other of Avenida Centenario (today Figueroa Alcorta):
– The sector to the south was organized around a public square with a marked axis of symmetry
– The sector to the north had a radial plane with an axis in a round block and a passage called Ombú.
Luxurious residences were built on large lots, such as the Errázuriz Palace, (today the Museum of Decorative Art), or the current Embassy of Spain; as well as petit hotels and Tudor-style houses on narrower grounds. Starting in the 1940s, the neighborhood began to change its profile, and apartment buildings began to be built, both on land that was still unoccupied, and on those with houses that were demolished.
Today, modern buildings abound, particularly on Avenida del Libertador (Libertador’s Avenue) and Avenida Figueroa Alcorta (Figueroa Alcorta Avenue), where the MALBA (Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires) is also located.
Barrio Parque is one of the most sought-after areas in the entire city. In it live well-known millionaire personalities from the field of national entertainment, politics, local media, sports, and millionaire entrepreneurs.
This elite neighborhood, quiet for those who so desire, is located minutes from the areas of the main banking and corporate activities of Buenos Aires (downtown and Puerto Madero), as well as nightlife (Recoleta, Palermo Soho, Palermo Hollywood, and Las Cañitas). Its cobbled, narrow, and circular streets, full of trees, stand out. You can see classic old houses, large modern houses and even some mansions. Inside these houses, the luxury and the number of maids and employees working in them stands out. Curiously, it is a few meters from Villa 31, one of the most depressed areas of Argentina, reflecting the social inequality that exists in the country and in the city of Buenos Aires itself.
Barrio Parque stands out for the curved and irregular layout of its streets, abundant green spaces, mansions, and the presence of several embassies (Spain, Albania, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Poland, Morocco, Slovakia, Portugal, Greece, Canada, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, Chile, South Korea, Haiti, and Indonesia), the area where these embassies are located is popularly known as “The embassy area”.