It is not known for certain whether its mentor, Argentine architect Arturo Dubourg, or the Chaquiriand family, who owned the property at the time, named the large building L'Auberge (the inn, in French). Inside, it concealed the drinking water storage tank for an entire neighborhood, and its ground floor housed a small ten-room hotel. The establishment soon became famous for its refined tea room, where waffles made in special molds brought from Belgium were—and still are—served.
Seven decades ago, one of Punta del Este's most elegant areas was born. Dubourg built dozens of large, luxurious residences there, surrounded by spacious gardens that in many cases were and still are true parks. For Dubourg, this marked the beginning of a professional career on the Peninsula, where over three decades he would go on to build more than one hundred chalets.
The visionaries:
Uruguayan businessman Pascual Gattás and Argentine Óscar Cadermatori joined forces to develop a new residential area next to the emerging San Rafael neighborhood, which had been successfully laid out by fellow businessman Laureano Alonsopérez.
Notary Marta and Dr. Pedro Berro joined Gattás and Cadermatori. They all agreed that architect Dubourg, who already enjoyed a strong reputation in the Río de la Plata, was the right person to carry out the ambitious project. Among his most notable works were the Bristol and Claridge hotels in Buenos Aires, as well as dozens of luxurious chalets in the Los Troncos neighborhood of Mar del Plata.
Internal reference: Tera-5643
