Villa Devoto - History

History

The district was named after "The Count" Antonio Devoto, who was the owner of most of its lands. The Count Devoto was a member of the elite of Buenos Aires. In respect of his help to Italy during the first world war he was given the title of count by the king.

Don Devoto built what was the largest mansion at the time and it became known as Devoto Palace —Prince Umberto Saboya stayed there during a visit to Buenos Aires. The mansion was built on National Avenue and occupied around 10,000 square metres. The mansion was decorated in bronze, silver and gold with ironwork forged in Italy, and Florentine mosaics.

Don Devoto died in 1916 before the work on the mansion was complete. He did not leave any descendants, and no one could be found to buy the weird house; in 1938 it was split into building lots on which houses were later built.

Read more about this topic:  Villa Devoto

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    Humankind has understood history as a series of battles because, to this day, it regards conflict as the central facet of life.
    Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)

    What has history to do with me? Mine is the first and only world! I want to report how I find the world. What others have told me about the world is a very small and incidental part of my experience. I have to judge the world, to measure things.
    Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)

    No matter how vital experience might be while you lived it, no sooner was it ended and dead than it became as lifeless as the piles of dry dust in a school history book.
    Ellen Glasgow (1874–1945)