Torre Monumental 3.18

Torre Monumental and before 1982 Torre de los Ingleses is a clock tower located in the barrio of Retiro, Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is situated in the Plaza Fuerza Aérea Argentina next to the Calle San Martín and Avenida del Libertador. It was a gift from the local British community to the city in commemoration of the centennial of the May Revolution of 1810.After the Falklands War in 1982, the tower was renamed Torre Monumental, though some still call it Torre de los Ingleses.HistoryOn September 18, 1909 the Argentine National Congress passed Law N° 6368, consisting of an offer by the British residents of Buenos Aires to erect a monumental column to commemorate the centenary of the May Revolution.Although the centenary monument was initially considered to be a column it ultimately took the form of the tower.An 1910 exhibition of project proposals at the Salón del Bon Marché, today the Galerías Pacífico, resulted in the jury's award to English architect Sir Ambrose Macdonald Poynter (1867–1923), nephew of the founder of the Royal Institute of British Architects. The tower was built by Hopkins y Gardom, with materials shipped from England such as the white Portland stone and the bricks from Stonehouse, Gloucestershire (see below). The technical personnel responsible for the construction also came from England.