Juan Antonio Buschiazzo

Who was Juan Antonio Buschiazzo?

Juan Antonio Buschiazzo was an Italian architect and engineer who contributed to the modernisation of Buenos Aires, Argentina in the 1880s and to the construction of the city of La Plata, the new capital of the Buenos Aires Province.

Born in 1845 in Pontinvrea, Province of Savona, Liguria, Buschiazzo was the son of Margarita Bresciani and Carlos Buschiazzo. In 1850 the family arrived to Argentina and took up residence in Belgrano, a town that was soon to become a neighbourhood of the city of Buenos Aires. It was here that his four brothers and sisters were born.

In 1862 he started work in the studio of the Italian architect Nicolás Canale and his son José, and in 1869 he graduated from the University of Buenos Aires with a degree in engineering. In 1875 he became a member of the Municipal Commission for Public Works in Belgrano and in 1878 he qualified as an architect. In 1879 his son, Juan Carlos, was born and was later to become an architect and work with his father on a number of projects.

When Buenos Aires officially became the capital of Argentina in 1880 he was invited by the first major of the city, Torcuato de Alvear, to join the Department of Municipal Engineers. Thereafter he was involved with a wide range a projects concerned with the modernisation of Buenos Aires and the construction of public buildings, houses, hospitals, cemeteries, churches, parks, banks etc. In 1881 he joined the Commission for overseeing building projects in the city of La Plata.