Farewell to an icon of political corruption: demolition of the luxurious little hotel of María Julia Alsogaray – 05/06/2019

Luxury small hotel in Recoleta that belonged to Maria Julia Alsogaray there is no shadow of what was. The demolition tasks of the House They have advanced at full speed in the last few months and this Monday has finished being completely destroyed.

Until last Friday, the building only part of its magnificent French façade and interior walls remained. From the rest of the building, nothing has survived. This Monday morning, a group of workers with machines has finished demolishing everything. On the pavement, unaware of the destruction, reverdeció an elm that seemed dead 10 years ago.

The demolition lets us think that a rumor circulating for years in this part of Recoleta may be true. What there was a secret door this connected the small hotel (located in Junín 1435) to the border building (Junín 1441), where Alsogaray had bought apartments for his children. You can guess the remnants of this possible opening, now embedded, in the medianera.

The palace, of 930.76 square meters, had been acquired by the corrupt menemista polifuncionaria in 1991. The property, spread over six factories, had Carrara marble, slavonian oak flooring, gym, dance floor and Andalusian garden.

Those who visited it a few years ago during a judicial inspection remember that in one room of the house were remnants of Cold rooms specially conditioned to preserve the Alsogaray skin covers, who died in 2017 and who was convicted of illicit enrichment and fraudulent administration, among other crimes.

María Julia Alsogaray and her now discarded house were icons of corruption in Menem. It sounds like paradoxbut as its acquisition in 1991, the demolition of the property now she was suspected of some irregularity.

The NGO "Basta de Demoler" sought to end the demolition, but it did not succeed even though a law stipulates that all real estate built in the city before 1941 can not be abandoned, intervened or extended without prior badessment. it's a historical heritage. For the authorities, he did not deserve protection.

"Because of its characteristics, it should be protected, which is why we are introducing judicial protection. There was a historical legacy to take care of. From the symbolic the place seemed predestined. They acquired it irregularly and it was demolished irregularly. They repeated the same procedure"he said to Clarin the lawyer Juan Manuel Di Teodoro, who appeared before the comunera Gabriela Castillo during the judicial presentation.

The mansion, bought and completely renovated by Alsogaray in 1991, was built on Junín 1435, between Peña and Pacheco de Melo.

Corrupt enrichment

In his book "Maria Julia, a mirror of corruption in Argentina", the journalist Daniel Santoro Alsogaray owned in 1988, before arriving at the government of Carlos Menem, a department and a garage in Riobamba 1236, a Mercedes Benz 250 (model 80) and a Renault 18 (model 82) in family businesses. Cadesym, SAFIP, Pincar and Guandacay, other badets for $ 3,300. "

Daniel Santoro adds in his book: "In 1996, his patrimony was transformed into an apartment in Basavilbaso 1396, a garage in Junín 1441 and a chapel in Recoleta cemetery; the small hotel from Junín 1435, for which he manufactured spare parts for $ 650,000 and then had a value of $ 900,000; a Nissan Pathfinder 4X4 truck and a 1992 Fiat Uno; a grand piano ($ 17,000); a central Louis XVI style table ($ 18,000); a large Troumeau (an old desk of German origin) and style sconces ($ 11,000), the old French tapestry (33,000) and two Louis XVI style armchairs (8,200) ".

In 2009 the small hotel was auctioned by order of the Federal Court No. 4 to cover the $ 3,177,207.07 that the former official Carlos Menem him to the state for illicit enrichment.

The official valuation of the property, where María Julia Alsogaray still lived, was at that time 5,376,000 pesos (equivalent to $ 1,407,329, depending on the price of this day). In good love: came out auctions for two million and less than what was really worth.

The journalist Clarin Silvia Naishtat walked every step, every room, every floor of the 1,000 square meters inside House shortly before it's over. He published a detailed note in the newspaper edition of 23 October 2009, in which he described luxury in detail in which María Julia Alsogaray lived.

The small hotel in the interior

Here is Naishtat's note:

"The elm of the door is the only dry tree from Junín to 1400. And the two awnings of the facade, which all recognize as the small hotel Maria Julia, yesterday they were dirty. A sign that the owners, at least for a while, no longer maintain the House which will be auctioned next Thursday Thursday 29 at 11 o'clock. Outside, a group looks at each other while handing over their documents to the police. Nobody releases his promise, although some know each other: are representatives of funds, real estate, auctioneers and there was even an architect and a man who spoke French, perhaps to deceive. Everyone expects the commissioner Luisa Kattah to accompany them inside for a very neat tour. "Ms. Alsogaray has not yet managed to move her business," he says.

A marble staircase leads to the entrance hall with a grand piano and a chair that is in itself a sculpture. The floor is oak of Slovenia. Two engravings of Cortazzo, with men in frock coats, adorn the walls. There is little light but the room is adjoining The green, pink and gray marble rhomboid floors are bright and overlook the Andalusian-style garden topped with a fountain.

A library that reaches the ceiling houses the books of the deceased Alvaro Alsogaray and there they are bound in old leather their tastes in reading: several volumes of history and one of Miter's poetry, the complete works of Mallea and numerous shelves with copies of Adam Smith.

In the hallway, a surprising toilet with Carrara marble, huge jacuzzi and bronze accessories. This type of bathroom, measuring approximately 50 square meters, will be reproduced in each of the four floors of the 80-year-old neoclbadical house purchased by Alsogaray in 1991.

There are also kitchens on each floor. To reach the first floor, the staircase is wide and marble. But those who go higher are narrow. In 1992, Maria Julia placed him an elevator.

The doors of the rooms are lacquered and in a room on the first floor is Shield River Plate painted on a wall that collides with the paper with Bulgarian motifs from the rest of the rooms. It is precisely in this plant that game room with a pool style table, covered with a sheet.

Nail lounge chair It is the main piece of furniture of a large room that is completely reflected. We are on the second floor and that's the cloakroom, says Sandra, who introduces herself as "the maid". She says that in recent times it had to be adjusted and the person was significantly reducedl.

"Some areas are a bit neglected, the bombardment of bad news has been constant for months," he says. The winter garden, which overlooks Junín, is right: it shows dry vines and jasmine which, for lack of water, have not yet blossomed. In the gym that continues to the left, you can guess state of the art equipment packed. The third floor living room, with its soft oil colored carpet, has a fireplace that seems to have been used intensely this winter.

And the bathroom on the third floor indicates that the owner has disarmed the house at high speed and has forgotten objects. Among them, the gold combs that rest on vanity.

The small hotel has an area of ​​930.76 square meters and a base of $ 3,584,000. "It costs around 1,000 USD per meter, less than a modest Almagro department.", observes someone from the delegation.

The auctioneer estimates, however, that it will sell for $ 3,000 per square meter. The astonishment comes later, on the fourth floor, discovering that the house is crowned by a 120 square meter ballroom, pinotea floors and woodwork from petiribí. The track with balcony overlooks the Andalusian garden: from the top, you can see the stone beds and pergolas with roses that no longer give buttons. "Here, yes, happy times have been lived"sighs the auctioneer, "Naishtat concludes in his column.

Auction

The property was finally auctioned on November 11, 2009 for P3,680,000 ($ 973,000 depending on today's change). It was acquired by Ricardo Lurje, who acted as agent of the company Mabaju S.A. However, there was suspicion of any link with "La Liga", the group that buys at low prices and sells at market value.

It was the first time Justice managed to recover money in a corruption case.

During those years, the manor was unoccupied. Although it was a magnificent construction of the early 20th century, it deservedly no heritage protection from the City and could therefore be destroyed.

The Heritage Affairs Advisory Council (APAC) is the body responsible for badessing which buildings in the City deserve some form of heritage protection. It is integrated by different institutions, such as the National Commission of Museums, Monuments and Historic Places, the Faculty of Architecture of UBA and the Central Society of Architects. but it is chaired by the Director General of Urban Interpretation of the Ministry of Urban Development and Transportation of the City.

When the operation of lowering the small hotel It started, he was arrested by justice for an amparo presented by the lawyer Juan Manuel Di Teodoro under the impulse of the comunera Gabriela Castillo. The argument was that the "The demolition of the property is ongoing without the Real Estate Advisory Council (CAAP) being published in this regard. He pointed out that even the entry of a file did not concern the property in question, as required by law 3.056.

What Di Teodoro and Castillo denounced is that the demolition could not be done without the CAAP determining the historical value of the construction.

What the complainants have described as the "malicious bickering" since for the demolition process a numbering different from that of the small hotel.

Without heritage protection

In a note of the Heritage Assessment CAAP dated June 3, 2014, in the order number 47, it appears that evaluations were carried out in Junín 1441, Junín 1443 and Junín 1445. The small hotel was in Junín 1435.

Seizing detail: on the facade destroyed until Monday, the plate bearing the number 1435 corresponding to the property was still visible.

"What they tried was the request for patrimonial protection and the demolition of the neighboring building, not the small hotel", said lawyer Di Teodoro.

At the Ministry of Urban Development and Transportation of the City, on which depends the Directorate General of Urban Interpretation (dependence chaired by the CAAP), they informed Clarin that they have in this direction "a file of two revisions of the file of this property, the first is dated February 4, 2014, which refuses it as beneficiary of any type of protection". The second is dated December 27, 2016 and ratifies the previous one. and states that despite the fact that the minutes contain a typing error, the The property examined was the good one and they consider that it is not a beneficiary of the protection ".

The small hotel did not receive any protection and that there are three levels:

1. Integral, for those whose historical and / or architectural value has made them into urban landmarks.
2. Structural, for buildings of singular character which, by their historical, architectural, urban or symbolic value, characterize their environment, qualify an urban space or testify of the memory of the community.
3. Be careful, for buildings whose recognized value is to constitute the formal and cultural reference of the region, justify and give meaning to the whole.

Without legal protection, the destruction operation could be realized.

This Monday, on the front of the property, there is a notice of work that informs that it is a "total demolition" and that the task is in charge of the company Rociovial SRL. Nothing says what will be built at that time, but given the size of the land, it will surely be a multi-story apartment building.

The architect Carlos Blanco, board member of "Basta de Demoler", estimates that "in the last twenty years, about 50 people have disappeared. small hotels in Recoleta.

"The neighborhood was the quarry of the small hotelsThat was what characterized him, which gave him that Parisian air. They were made by French authors, but not only by their plans, but they brought back from Europe the raw materials, wood, glbad, marble, doors, for its construction. The models here were even better than those in Paris, "said Blanco.

Maria Julia Alsogaray he died on September 24, 2017 of pancreatic cancer. He was 74 years old.

The small hotel which belonged to him was an icon of a dreamed European Buenos Aires. Also an icon of political corruption. And he closed his story like a pressure icon real estate companies.