Palacio de Aguas Corrientes

One of the most flamboyant buildings in Buenos Aires, this waterworks palace was completed in 1894 to conceal enormous iron water tanks behind an ornate facade. Its exterior is clad in tens of thousands of glazed terracotta tiles and mouldings manufactured in England, in a riot of polychrome decoration. Behind the elaborate skin, the utilitarian tanks once supplied the growing city. Today the building houses a water museum and archive, and its extravagant frontage remains a landmark of the Balvanera district.