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Former Power Plant General San Martin, Ingeniero White, province of Buenos Aires
The former Power plant of Ingeniero White, a sort of eclectic castle lost between the Pampas and the sea, is located today among silos, piers and petrochemical plants.
In the year 1929 the Electrical Enterprises of Bahia Blanca (EEBB) commissioned the project of a thermoelectric plant to Architect J. Molinari, Chief of Projects of the Italian-Argentine Electricity Company, who had already constructed various electricity transformation substations in the City of Buenos Aires.
The factory provided energy to Bahia Blanca and the surrounding region during more than 50 years, until the thermoelectric central station of Luis Piedrabuena started operating in the mid 1980’s. After that, the boilers and turbines of the Power Plant General San Martin were sold as scrap.
The architecture of the Former Power Plant General San Martin was influenced by eclecticism, which was very much employed in government and industrial buildings in the beginning of the 20th century.
The economic changes that took place in Argentina in the 1990’s and after the 2001 economic crisis suffered by the whole country, forced the population of Ingeniero White to migrate to other cities with higher employment possibilities; leaving behind only the few people employed by the silos, petrochemical plants and the port, as well as a castle full of ghosts...
About this article...
Author of the article: Grondona Olmi, Verónica
Sources employed:
- museotaller.blogspot.com August 2010
- "El Pais que no Miramos" ("The Country we have not Seen"), a series of documentaries for television produced by Ivan Grondona. Archivo General de la Nacion ("Argentina's National Archive").
Translated by: Veronica Grondona
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