Stop 1: British Clock Tower

As the name of the monument suggests, the British Clock Tower was funded by affluent British immigrants in Buenos in 1910 and inaugurated on May 24, 1916, a date that marked both the Empire Day in the British Empire and the 106th year of the Argentinian May Revolution of 1810.

The British Clock measured 63 meters and was made with red English facing-brick imported from an English brickwork. Likewise, the entry door and the ceilings in the interior were respectively made of imported English oak and embellished with dark oak.

The tower stood outside the city’s train stations, which were owned by British-owned railway companies. The Monument comes indeed from what British considered their gift to Argentina: the economic development.

Many are the symbols craved that make an explicit reference both to Great Britain and Argentina and that subsequently entangle the two nations: the English rose, the Irish shamrock, the Welsh dragon, the Scottish thistle, the Incaic sun of the Argentine flag but mainly the two coats of arms.

Photograph by Felipe Restrepo Acosta