Our History
From 1880, the Argentine Republic undertook its definitive organization as a nation under the motto of peace and administration, which characterized the first presidency of General Julio A. Roca (1880-1886). A propitious field for institutional achievements opened up before the men who composed the ruling class of the country – the men of the famous Eighties’ Generation. There was, indeed, much to be done in the public sphere, but also much that could and should be done in the private sphere, both socially and culturally.
The Club
The Jockey Club of Buenos Aires, founded on April 15, 1882, arose precisely from this context of creative euphoria. Its most determined promoter and first president was Dr. Carlos Pellegrini, seconded by an enthusiastic group of gentlemen representing the political and economic activity of the country. What encouraged them was to create an entity able to organize and govern the national turf activity in our country, which up until then had been the result of scattered and not very profitable undertakings, and at the same time a first-class social center, like the best European clubs that all of them had known during their travels in France and England. Both premises were clearly stated in the first article of the institution’s Bylaws, stating that the Jockey Club would be a social center and an association that would pursue the improvement of horse breeds.
Social Premises on Florida Street
During the first years, the activities were carried out in different rented residences, located in the downtown area of the city, but due to a constant increase in the number of members, it soon prompted the construction of its own premises, which would be fully in accordance with the growing prestige the Club had attained in its germinal stage. A major step in this regard was taken in 1888, when a property was acquired on Florida Street between Lavalle and Tucumán, an unbeatable location in the end-of-century Buenos Aires. After calling a design competition, the Jockey authorities decided to begin construction immediately, according to plans drawn up by the Austrian architect Manuel Turner. During the construction process, which lasted nine years, the original design was completely modified, and the final work was signed by the Argentine engineer Emilio Agrelo.
A superb façade overlooking Florida Street, an impressive reception and a scenographic staircase; sumptuous halls, a vast weapons room and a cozy dining room. Its elegant features contributed so that the Jockey Club Palace would become the favorite center of the most important social activity of the city from the very moment of its opening, on September 30, 1897. Carlos Pellegrini had a great deal to do with its furnishing and decoration. He personally took care of the definitive arrangement of the house down to the smallest details, counting on the collaboration of Miguel Cané, who sent the luxurious curtains, the thick carpets, the panoply, the chandeliers of the finest crystal and even the lanterns for the front of the building from Paris, where he was working as Minister of our country.
As time went by, the house underwent several modifications. First, several neighboring lots were acquired, allowing the expansion of the facilities and the construction of an annex building for the administrative offices. Successive renovations, carried out in 1909 and 1921, allowed the rooms to be adapted to changes in fashion and taste, and at the same time, with specialized advice, a valuable art collection was built up, including paintings by Louis Michel Van Loo, Goya, Bouguereau, Corot, Monet, Sorolla, Anglada Camarasa, Fantin-Latour, Carrière and Favretto. Along with those of foreign artists, there were also numerous canvases by Argentine masters such as Sívori, Gramajo Gutiérrez, Bermúdez, Quinquela Martín, López Naguil, Fader, Cordiviola and Aquiles Badi, making up the ensemble of a a real art gallery, which some members of the Club did not hesitate to consider as “our little museum”.
The Palermo and San Isidro Horse Racetracks and the Sports Field
As regards the leading role it wished to assume on the equestrian activity, by 1883 the Club was entrusted with the management of Hipódromo Argentino, which had existed since May 1876, implementing a new racing regulation that soon became applicable throughout the national territory. The creation of the Stud Book (genealogical registry of thoroughbred racing animals introduced or born in the country) completed the series of important initial actions that soon began to bear promising fruits.
Around 1907, the Club undertook a complete renovation of the racetrack, which was awarded to the architect Louis Fauré Dujarric. The new facilities opened in 1909, and the Palermo racetrack acquired the elegant appearance it still has today, with the exception of slight modifications made over time. Its renewed appearance was presented in the special races organized to celebrate the One Hundredth Year Anniversary of the May Revolution in 1910, an opportunity where the Jockey Club displayed a rich program of prizes of international importance.
But the great equestrian undertaking tackled by the Jockey Club consisted in the construction of a new and modern racetrack in San Isidro, in the north of the capital city. For this purpose, a large piece of land – approximately 316 hectares – was acquired, a transaction that was formalized on April 5, 1926. Built in accordance with the most modern concepts in the field and equipped with superb tracks with an oval course of 2,738 meters, the San Isidro Horse Racetrack was inaugurated on December 8, 1935. Training tracks, boxes and a veterinary hospital eventually completed the facilities surrounded by magnificent parks.
Two golf courses of 18 holes each – the red and the blue one – designed by specialist Allister Mckenzie, were also built on those lands and opened to the public in 1930. In 1940, the construction of a superb English-style social building, the Golf Club House begun, and that same year the first two polo fields of a total of seven that exist today were inaugurated. Swimming pools for adults and children and tennis and soccer courts make up the outdoor sports area that was also established in the unbeatable landscape of San Isidro.
In May 1953, the Jockey Club was declared dissolved and ceased by a national law and the properties of the Club were transferred to the National Government, which from that moment on also managed the racetracks. Upon recovering its assets in 1958, the Club could not immediately take charge of the Palermo and San Isidro racetracks, since it was not until 1962 that the National Government decided to transfer their administration to the Club, which it exercised until the agreement was revoked in 1974. Four years later, in 1978, the full restitution of the San Isidro racetrack was obtained. The Club endowed it with important technological advances that, since then, have allowed the development of the intense and brilliant equestrian activity with which the Jockey carries out the initial postulate of its Bylaws.
The Second Era of the Club and the Current Social Premises
On April 15, 1953, in a context of irrational political passions, the the Jockey Club palace on Florida Street was set on fire and destroyed, losing almost all its artistic heritage. As we have already mentioned, a few days later, the Club was dissolved, recovering its legal status in 1958. The new stage that began in that year took place in a residence that had belonged to the Estrugamou family located at Cerrito 1353. The house was acquired with its furniture, carpets, chandeliers and works of art and was adapted for the Club’s activities with the advice of architect Alejandro Bustillo. Although it was smaller than the Florida Street House, it more than met the requirements of the entity during that transition time.
The right moment for the Club to have a house in accordance with its reborn importance came in 1966, when it acquired the building at Av. Alvear 1345, one of the most sumptuous mansions among those built in Buenos Aires at the end of the 19th century. Its front, for greater significance, opens onto the square where the monument to Pellegrini, the preeminent founder of the Club, stands.
The complex and intelligent recycling tasks, in charge of architects Acevedo, Becú and Moreno, allowed the Jockey Club to reopen its doors in November 1968, in a high-class house, equipped with all the necessary comforts for its sumptuous operation. The reception rooms were kept as they were when the former owner, Mrs. Concepción Unzué de Casares, still lived there, but the rest of the house underwent a complete transformation process. Once again, the Club had spacious rooms, a vast dining room, a comfortable weapons room and an immense library. Paintings by reputable artists hung on the walls and the luxurious salons were filled with voices. Turf was also discussed again, and important cultural meetings were held once more. In short: the Jockey Club regained the old traditional splendor that had characterized it since its early years, installed in one of the most distinguished corners of the city of Buenos Aires.
In 1981, the social space on Alvear Avenue was conspicuously expanded with the acquisition of an adjoining residence, facing Cerrito street, which had previously belonged to the Sánchez Elía family. Both houses were integrated through their respective gardens, new and shiny rooms were added and the Jockey Club premises regainedtheir maximum prestige; the same one that today is displayed, with daily dazzle, before the members who visit it and who enter it under the watchful gaze of Diana de Falguière who, rescued from the fire of 1953, continues guarding the doors of the Club as she always did, since its inauguration, in the remembered headquarters of Florida Street.