Retiro (Barrio) / Retiro (Neighborhood) - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Retiro is one of the largest hubs of transportation services in Argentina, and is home to many high-end stores and residential areas popular among both local wealthy gentry and expatriate executives. About 26,000 of its people, however, including thousands of illegal immigrants, live in the "Villa 31" shantytown built along the Port of Buenos Aires from the 1930s onwards. Local and long distance rail service heading to the north originate from Estación Retiro (Retiro train terminal), also a major long-distance bus terminal (Terminal de Ómnibus) is located adjacent to the station, subte line C of the Buenos Aires Metro system and numerous local public bus services, this area is always teeming with commuters and traffic on weekdays. A major thoroughfare is Avenida del Libertador, which becomes Avenida Leandro N. Alem past the Retiro train terminal. Avenida Leandro Alem runs north-to-south along the Buenos Aires Central Business District, which Retiro shares with the San Nicolás ward; the Retiro section of the business district is centered around the Catalinas Norte office park, initially built in the 1970s over docklands developed a century earlier by Francisco Seeber. Other principal streets and avenues in Retiro are Santa Fe, Córdoba, and Libertador Avenues, pedestrian Florida Street, and Avenida 9 de Julio. The Retiro section of Florida Street was the site of Harrods Buenos Aires, originally the London department store's only overseas affiliate, from 1914 to 1998; the abandoned landmark continued to host art shows and Tango festivals, and permits were obtained in 2009 to reopen the retailer. Another Retiro landmark spared demolition was the Ortiz Basualdo Palace. Completed in 1912 as a private residence, it was acquired by the French Government for use as its Embassy in Argentina in 1939. When entire blocks of housing were razed to make way for an extension of the Avenida 9 de Julio in the late 1970s, the embassy was spared due to its landmark status, and remains the lone building in the midst of intense traffic. The neighboring Pereda Palace, built in 1920, serves as the official residence of the Ambassador of Brazil. Retiro is home to a number of five star hotels, including the Four Seasons, Marriott Plaza, Sheraton, and Sofitel. The oldest of these, the Marriott Plaza, was opened in 1909 and faces Plaza San Martín, to the north of which lies the train terminal and the Plaza Fuerza Aérea Argentina (formerly Plaza Británica), where the Torre Monumental (formerly Torre de los Ingleses) is located.