El Ateneo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
El Ateneo Grand Splendid is one of the most well-known bookshops in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Situated at 1860 Santa Fe Avenue in Barrio Norte, the building was designed by the architects Peró and Torres Armengol for the empresario Max Glücksman (1875-1946) and opened as a theatre named Teatro Gran Splendid in May 1919. In the late twenties it became a cinema and in 2000 it was converted into a bookshop.
The theatre had a seating capacity of 1050 and staged a variety of performances including appearances by the tango artists Carlos Gardel, Francisco Canaro, Roberto Firpo and Ignacio Corsini. In 1924 Glücksman started his own radio station, Radio Splendid, which broadcasted from the building where his recording company, Nacional Odeón, made some of the early recordings of the great tango singers of the day. In the late twenties the theatre was converted into a cinema and in 1929 showed the first films ever presented with sound.
In 2000, under the direction of the architect Fernando Manzone, the building was renovated and converted into a book and music shop . The cinema seating was removed and in its place book shelves were installed. Chairs are provided throughout the building, including the still-intact theatre boxes, where customers can dip into books before purchase, and there is now a café on the back of what was once the stage. The ceiling, painted by the Italian artist Nazareno Orlandi, the ornate carvings, the crimson stage curtains, the auditorium lighting and many architectural details remain. Despite the changes, the building still retains the feeling of the grand theatre it once was.
