Alejandro Christophersen
1866–1946 · Norwegian-Argentine architect born in Cádiz
Alejandro Christophersen (Cádiz, 1866 – Buenos Aires, 1946) was a Norwegian architect, son of the Norwegian consul, who carried out most of his work in Buenos Aires. He is regarded as the central figure of Argentine eclectic architecture, and his buildings shaped much of the city's urban landscape.
He was educated in Norway, where he completed his secondary studies, and then at the School of Architecture and Stage Design of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, graduating in 1885. He later moved to Paris and joined the Pascal atelier at the École des Beaux-Arts. After a brief stay in Uruguay, he settled in Buenos Aires around 1887, where he first worked in partnership with the architect Carl Kihlberg.
From 1892 he built an independent career that lasted almost five decades. Among his best-known works are the Café Tortoni, the Hotel Astoria, the Basilica of Santa Rosa de Lima and the Palacio San Martín, whose construction ran until 1916. His buildings blend academic references with a large number of public and private commissions.
He co-founded the School of Architecture with Paul Hary and Joaquín Mariano Belgrano and taught at the University of Buenos Aires. In the 1920s he clashed with the avant-garde architect Alejandro Virasoro over academic ornament versus rationalism and Art Deco.