Until 1957, it was known as La Rural Passage. All the buildings along its scant 100 meters belonged to the insurance company that had borne that name since 1894. This made sense: the company had commissioned the construction of the eight rental buildings. But the most striking feature of this limited Buenos Aires landscape isn't its length or the fact that it cuts across a city block, but rather the symmetry of its image: as if reflected in a mirror, all the buildings on one side of the street are exactly the same as those on the opposite side.
Built between 1924 and 1926, the Dr. Rodolfo Rivarola Passage (its current name commemorates the jurist and writer born in Rosario, Santa Fe, who lived from 1857 to 1942 and was a prominent intellectual figure of the Generation of '80) is a prime example of the Beaux-Arts style. It is practically a symbol in the San Nicolás neighborhood, lending a French touch to the area. It connects Juan Domingo Perón and Bartolomé Mitre streets, running parallel to Talcahuano and Uruguay streets.
The La Rural project was commissioned to the architects Petersen, Thiele, and Cruz, and construction was carried out by a German company, Geope. Designated as a historical preservation area, the passageway comprises eight buildings, all with a ground floor and five upper floors (each floor contains three apartments). And, in a style that would become characteristic of future construction, each apartment had an assigned space on the rooftop for washing and drying clothes, as well as a basement room for storage, a precursor to modern storage units.
To give you an idea of the quality of construction, it's enough to mention that the floors in the entrances and hallways are marble, while those in the apartments are Slavonian oak. The exterior also boasts high-quality materials: artistic ironwork, imported slate, and bronze frames. And to complete the picture, there are the four corner buildings, each topped with domes and elegant towers. Each of these domes houses an apartment.
Often used as an urban backdrop for both art films and commercials, the Rivarola Passage also houses several shops. One of them was originally the headquarters of that insurance company. But the most prominent has always been a shop specializing in watch repair, frequented by collectors who come to Buenos Aires from all over the world. It's popularly known as "the Chacarita of watches," as if it were a graveyard of these timepieces, many literally frozen in time.
With its distinctly European image and bohemian air, the Rivarola is one of the many Buenos Aires passages scattered throughout this city that has already far exceeded four centuries of existence.