Friday, July 24, 2009

Rusty House with a Skirted Balcony in La Boca

Charming Rusty House in Zolezzi Street in the La Boca neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina
This house with the rusty facade is to be found in close proximity to the Estadio Alberto J. Armando. The famous football stadium in the La Boca neighborhood is much better known as "La Bombonera", home of the Boca Juniors. Buenos Aires — well, actually, the entire nation of Argentina — is acknowledged to be extremely football-enthusiastic. The Porteños like to name streets after their beloved football personalities. This street was named after Antonio L. Zolezzi who was a former president of the soccer club Atlético River Plate in 1912 and for the period from 1925 to 1927. Be it as it may, I love the house not only for its rusty charm, but because of the fancy skirt around the balcony.

10 comments:

Lowell said...

Trust your house to rust. ;-)

Never have seen anything quite like this...what is the skirt made out of?

Certainly is interesting to say the least.

Re: Publix. Don't know for sure, but I think the man who started it wanted people to think it was a store that would serve the public...but "public" is just too blah...viola! Publix!

Buenos Aires Photoblog said...

Jacob, I'm 95% sure that it was a 100% polyester! (:

Lowell said...

That's funny! No rust!

Unknown said...

That photo remembered me when I used to live in la Boca, when I was a kid, in the early 90, I lived in Benito Perez Galdoz, do you know it? Well about the post of yesterday my favourite brand of Yerba Mate is "Sol y Lluvia", but I dont get it in Buenos Aires, i think only sell it here in Misiones, for me is a really tasty brand, not light, but not too strong, and with sugar and orange skin I think is perfect. But `personally I don`t buy flavoured yerba, cause taste artificial, well is my opinion, well see ya, and excuse me if the comment is too large.

B SQUARED said...

Certainly is strange looking. Is this a one of a kind thing or are they common?

AB said...

Fascinating house, nice photo.

Reading about the football tradition reminds me that the most famous Argentinian is supposed to have come from the back streets of Buenos Aires. Villa Fiorito is the area Maradona grew up in. What is that like?

Buenos Aires Photoblog said...

@B SQUARED
Yes, they are pretty common in La Boca. Many of these houses are painted in bright colors, especially in the tiny tourist area in and around El Caminito some blocks from here. Please see my post "Colorful House in La Boca". I should also mention that Argentina is a very poor country and millions of people are trapped in absolute poverty. La Boca is one of the poorer neighborhoods but compared to other shantytowns like Villa 21, this rusty house in La Boca looks pretty "luxurious".

@AB
Villa Fiorito? Same same but different! (;
Honestly, I've not been to Villa Fiorito yet but I will check it out.

RogerB said...

I think it's the tight horizontal lines of the metal siding that make this house so interesting. Very neat photo, and thank you for the soccer info!

EG CameraGirl said...

I'm curious about what they use for siding. Is it a recycled material? It looks long and narrow like an old railway car.

Buenos Aires Photoblog said...

@Your EG Tour Guide
La Boca's houses are known for their corrugated-metal sidings. Unfortunately, I don't know where the material comes from.