.The
city of Rosario's Villa Hortensia is a mansion
in, which is located in the province of Santa
Fe, Argentina. It is located on 1917 Warnes
St. in Barrio Alberdi, in the north-eastern
part of Rosario. It was built in 1890 by architect
Boyd Walker for José Nicolás Puccio,
founder of Alberdi. It was then sold to Ciro
Echesortu, and then in turn to Alfredo Rouillon,
married to María Hortensia Echesortu
(from whom the house got its name). The wealthy
Rouillon family employed Villa Hortensia as
a summer residence, taking advantage of its
proximity to the Paraná River and its
large, tree-shadowed gardens.
The protection
of the mansion was neglected until, in 1989, it was
declared a National Historic Monument. At the time
it was under a serious threat of being condemned.
The Villa was acquired by the Municipality of Rosario
on 30 May 1996 in order to transform it into an administrative
center, as part of an official decentralisation plan.
Villa Hortensia was restored, emphasizing the original
plans and materials, and was re-opened as the first
Municipal District Center on 13 October 1997.
The house 'Villa Hortensia' accommodates
a citizen assistance office, a delegation of the Rosario
Municipal Bank, and offices of the water, natural
gas and power companies, where the neighbors of the
North District can pay for these services, place requests,
etc. The mansion also has a marriage office. This
allows for citizens to carry out administrative business
near their homes, instead of travelling downtown to
the main municipal offices (a 40-minute bus ride).
A survey conducted a month after the inauguration
of Villa Hortensia found that the citizens of the
North District used to travel an average of 8 km for
administrative business before, a distance which has
been reduced to only 1.5 km. Eighty percent of the
citizens surveyed also consider the service in Villa
Hortensia better than the one formerly provided in
the downtown offices.
