Patrimonial value of Casas Chorizo

Even though the legacy of the Casas Chorizo is very strong in Buenos Aires and other large Argentinean cities, they are disappearing. New buildings are replacing this beautiful heritage of Argentina. 

Reasons are many. One of the causes is the maintenance these houses require, such as wall cracks, ceiling leaks and rising damp and humidity in the walls. Some of the work can be repaired with modern means, but other may need specific carpenter or masonry skills that today is rare to find. Other reason is that these houses were built for single families with three generations all together housed in the same house. But nowadays these houses have become too big and too expensive for housing just the more common two generations of family in modern times. Other high buildings taking away the sun from the windows and patio is also adding to this pain together with the privacy aspects of having suddenly high rise balconies looking into your house. 

And of course, the quick financial gain people could make by selling the plot of land to project developers, for prices that go for at least double (if not triple) the value per m2 compared to the m2 price per habitable surface.  

If you look at how the city developed, unfortunately Buenos Aires and Argentina is not strongly helping to protect this patrimonio. In this clip below you can see how in 100 years the casas chorizo are replaced by high rise. 

Other cities such as Amsterdam, London and Paris are better in protecting their houses and neighborhoods. And looking at the heritage in those cities, they are priding themselves with keeping well their houses and monuments built even as early as the 17th century. The city governments allow special zones where houses are protected, look for alternatives, provide guidelines in preserving, restoring as well as rebuilding new ones, and in some cases they organize communities to raise money to buy, restore and then rent these patrimonial valued properties (Amsterdam City Restoration Company). And Amsterdam city government is even offering for free to integrate old ornaments in new and existing buildings (Amsterdam offering century old ornaments to integrate).

Patrimonial Value protected in Leiden, the Netherlands

The patrimonial value of these houses not only represents a city's history that differentiates it from other cities, but also serves to maintain its identity. 

It is a pity to see these types of houses slowly disappearing. It is easy to take down a casa chorizo, but rebuilding them is almost impossible. 

Help us Save the Patrimonio, Save the Casa Chorizo