For most who pass along calle Suipacha, the plain, unassuming house next to Palacio Noel goes unnoticed. Thousands of houses and apartments in Buenos Aires posses more charming exteriors. Of course, as with many buildings in the city, you never know what is behind the facade. In this particular house, decades ago, many of the leading artistic figures of Buenos Aires partook in the dancing and drinking offered by their charismatic host, a monumental figure in Argentine literature, the poet Oliverio Girondo. Serving as hostess for these fortnightly soirées, while cultivating her reputation as a coquettish seductress, was his wife the writer Norah Lange.

Family wealth financed Girondo’s global journeys and bohemian, but comfortable, lifestyle. In the 1920s Girondo lived in Paris and Rome, traveling widely while amassing a vast collection of sculpture, paintings, and reportedly, one of the largest private collections of gold pre-Colombian artifacts. Returning for good to Buenos Aires in 1932, Girondo re-assumed his leadership of the literary avant-garde much to the annoyance of Jorge Luis Borges.

Always scandalous and seeking publicity, Girondo sought ways to shock the bourgeoisie. He promoted his most famous book Espantapajaros (Scarecrow) by hiring a horse-drawn funeral hearse to parade an effigy of a “learned man” along the streets of Buenos Aires. After the stunt the papier-mâché “scarecrow” resided in Girondo’s house. (I’ve heard that after Girondo’s death that the scarecrow ended up with the Museo de la Ciudad but I have no idea if it still exists).

Girondo is hardly known outside the realm of Spanish-language literary readers despite the fact that a Catholic university in Indiana has an extensive collection of his works. Girondo, if not for his life alone, is overdue for discovery by the rest of the world.

One of my favorite museums in Buenos Aires is the Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fernández Blanco. (That’s a long name!) It’s located at Suipacha 1422 and is definitely worth a visit. True to its name, the museum has a nice collection of colonial Spanish-American material which are displayed in a very nice setting within the house.

The ground floor has a mostly religious theme. So, if you’re looking for that colonial feeling which you find in, say, Lima then this is the place to go in Buenos Aires. Be sure to wander down into the basement which also has an interesting assortment of domestic items used by upper class porteños of the day.

The museum regularly sponsors some very good photographic exhibitions. The photo exhibitions generally don’t have anything to do with colonial Spanish-America but provide a good reason to make recurring visits to the museum.

The house itself is worth a visit alone. But don’t be fooled into thinking that this is actually a colonial house. It was built in 1921 by architect Martín Noel, but he didn’t live in the main house. That belonged to his brother Carlos who was mayor of Buenos Aires from 1922 - 1927. Martín lived in the front part of the estate, the group of rooms that are part of the front wall. The brothers also had a famous neighbor that I’m going to mention in another post.

Robert’s posting about Buenos Aires in bloom inspired me to walk over to Parque Lezama and take a look at the jacaranda trees which are so pretty this time of year.

The city has been doing work on Parque Lezama so it’s becoming nice. Quite a bit of grass has been added to the areas that had turned to dirt and dust. The park is best on a weekday, when it can be a relaxing spot. On the weekends it gets way too crowded and rather bizarre.

I’m not really pleased with these photos. The exposure on the camera didn’t want to cooperate. Anyway, the trees look much nicer in person.