A message from a good friend of mine from college who is now an architect prompts me to write about the buildings on the street where I live in Buenos Aires. (Shout out to Jim!).

The city has been doing a lot of work on this street, new sidewalks and strip of grass planted down the center. Well, the median is still mostly dirt but notice the new old-fashion street lights that now grace Avenida Caseros.

Our building is the one on the right in the photo above. Below is another photo, a closer shot. Long-time readers also may remember a post about when we moved to this place last year that features photos of the interior.

I don’t really care for the black trim around the windows, a little funereal for me, but the building is outstanding. Almost all the buildings on this part of Caseros are very interesting. Most are in good shape, though there are still a few that need a lot of work.

I’m going to have more to say about that building in the background of the top photo.

On the ground floor of the building where I formerly lived, there was a shoe store that had been in business since 1940. Everyone who worked inside was quite old. (The same was true for most of the shoes, it seemed). Over the weekend I walked by the building again and saw that the store had finally gone out of business.

So, now there’s a nice store for rent on Av Brasil at the edge of San Telmo. There’s a lot of traffic on that street (believe me, I heard it all from my bedroom three floors above the shoe store!) but, it’s one of those areas that is no longer well suited for a store. I suspect the store - like some others nearby - will stay vacant for a very long time.

Anyway, farewell to the shoe merchants…sixty-six years is a mighty good run.