Casa Rosada

The Casa Rosada, meaning the Pink House, stands on the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires and serves as the executive mansion and office of the President of Argentina, taking its current form through a series of nineteenth century building campaigns that joined a former fort and a customs house into a single structure between 1873 and 1898. Its distinctive salmon-pink color has been explained by several traditions, including a wish to blend the red and white colors of Argentina's rival nineteenth century political factions and a more practical account that early paint was mixed with ox blood as a preservative against damp. The building's balcony above the main entrance is closely associated with Eva Peron, who addressed large crowds gathered in the plaza below from that spot during her husband Juan Peron's presidency. The Casa Rosada remains the working office of the Argentine president, though not a residence, and its interior houses a museum devoted to the country's presidential history.