Torre Monumental and before 1982 Torre de los Ingleses (Tower of the English) is a clock tower located in the barrio (district)of Retiro Buenos Aires,Argentina. It is situated in the Plaza Fuerza Aérea Argentina (formerly Plaza Británica) next to the Rua San Martín and Avenida del Libertador. It was a gift from the local British community to the city in commemoration of the centenial of the May Revolution of 1810.

After "la Guerra de las Malvinas" in 1982, the tower was renamed Torre Monumental, though some still call it Torre de los Ingleses.

History

On September 18, 1909 the Congreso de la Nación Argentina passed Law N° 6368, consisting of an offer by the British residents of Buenos Aires to erect a monumental column to commemorate the centenary of the May Revolution.Although the centenary monument was initially considered to be a column it ultimately took the form of the tower.

An 1910 exhibition of project proposals at the Salón del Bon Marché, today the Galerias Pacífico, resulted in the jury's award to English architect Sir Ambrose Macdonald Poynter (1867–1923), nephew of the founder of the Royal Institute of British Architects. The tower was built by Hopkins y Gardom, with materials shipped from England such as the white Portland Stone and the Leicester type bricks. The technical personnel responsible for the construction also came from England.

The sudden death of King Edward VII on May 6, 1910, prompted the United Kindom to cancel its delegation to the Centenary celebrations, and the cornerstone was not laid until November 26. Other delays that followed were due to the late vacationing of the gas company that was installed in the square in 1912 and the outbreak of World War in 1914. The inauguration of the building took place on May 24, 1916 and was attended by thePresident of Argentina Victorino de la Plaza and British dignitaries led by the minister plenipotentiary Reginald Tower.

Description

The tower is built in Palladian style, the building is decorated with symbols of the British Empire and features the thistle of Scotland, the English rose, the Welsh dragon and the Irish shamrock.

The tower reachs a height of 75,5 mts. and has eight floors. There are cloks at the 35 mts level, and the bells were designed in imitation of the ones at Westminster.

The tower is topped by an octagonal copper roofed cupola. Above the entrance there are the shields of Argentina and Great Britain and the inscription "al gran pueblo argentino, los residentes británicos, salud, 25 de mayo 1810-1910" ('To the health of the Great Argentine people, from the British residents, May 25, 1810-1910').

Modified from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torre_Monumental