http://www.saltshaker.net/20051210/wandering-san-telmo Casting a little flavor (and a few aspersions) on the world of food, drink, and life Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:46:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 http://www.saltshaker.net/20051210/wandering-san-telmo#comment-137 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Mondays Tue, 17 Jan 2006 16:51:02 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20051210/wandering-san-telmo#comment-137 [...] The first was in Pasaje San Lorenzo, a short paving stone street that at one time was little more than a drainage route for the neighborhood of San Telmo. Other than a couple of small bars and restaurants, the pasaje is most well known, if at all, for the Casa Minima at #380. The building is, according to various sources, either closed, or inhabited by unknown denizens. Historically, it’s famous for being the narrowest house in Buenos Aires. Depending on the source, it checks in at 2.9, 2.5, 2.2, or 2.1 meters in width, and roughly 13 meters deep. That makes it somewhere around 7 and 9.5 feet wide - my rough guess is about 8 feet (and 42 feet deep). The house was at one time known as the casa del esclavo liberto, or house of the freed slave. Local lore has it that sometime in the early 1800s, the owner of the house to the left, one Dr. José Maria Peña, freed one of his slaves (details as to who, why, etc. I haven’t been able to find) and granted him the land adjoining the house, essentially the side yard, and then helped him build a place for he and his family to live. The side yard being what it was, the house is also. On the other hand, that entire story may be made up. There is some evidence that the house was merely a sort of work studio for Dr. Peña, and that the “freedman” story was made up by a later owner, Silvio Bassi, an antique dealer who bought the property in 1960 and began propogating the story as a way of attracting tourists (and charging them for admission). The story has since passed into local lore and is included in virtually every guidebook to the neighborhood, including official government texts! [...] [...] The first was in Pasaje San Lorenzo, a short paving stone street that at one time was little more than a drainage route for the neighborhood of San Telmo. Other than a couple of small bars and restaurants, the pasaje is most well known, if at all, for the Casa Minima at #380. The building is, according to various sources, either closed, or inhabited by unknown denizens. Historically, it’s famous for being the narrowest house in Buenos Aires. Depending on the source, it checks in at 2.9, 2.5, 2.2, or 2.1 meters in width, and roughly 13 meters deep. That makes it somewhere around 7 and 9.5 feet wide - my rough guess is about 8 feet (and 42 feet deep). The house was at one time known as the casa del esclavo liberto, or house of the freed slave. Local lore has it that sometime in the early 1800s, the owner of the house to the left, one Dr. José Maria Peña, freed one of his slaves (details as to who, why, etc. I haven’t been able to find) and granted him the land adjoining the house, essentially the side yard, and then helped him build a place for he and his family to live. The side yard being what it was, the house is also. On the other hand, that entire story may be made up. There is some evidence that the house was merely a sort of work studio for Dr. Peña, and that the “freedman” story was made up by a later owner, Silvio Bassi, an antique dealer who bought the property in 1960 and began propogating the story as a way of attracting tourists (and charging them for admission). The story has since passed into local lore and is included in virtually every guidebook to the neighborhood, including official government texts! [...]

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