Mar del Plata Style

Mar del Plata style is a vernacular architectural approach combining eclectic design elements in residential building, which emerged in the Argentine coastal resort city of Mar del Plata and later spread to the nearby towns of Miramar and Necochea and to Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Santa Fe provinces. It was especially popular between 1935 and 1950, and its houses are marked by stone facades, pitched roofs with dormers, attached garages, both functional and decorative chimneys, ornamental woodwork, arched porches and front gardens, built above all in a local orthoquartzite stone known as Piedra Mar del Plata. The style embodied the aspirations of a rising middle class and marked the city transformation from a seasonal resort into a permanent urban center, and its emergence also challenged the long-standing dominance of Buenos Aires over Argentine architectural taste.