Carlos Thays

Thays bust in the Botanical Garden, Buenos Aires

Botanical Garden, Palermo, Buenos Aires

Carlos Thays (born August 20, 1849 in Paris , † January 31, 1934 in Buenos Aires ) was a French - Argentine landscape architect .

Life

Carlos Thays was born as Charles Thays in Paris in 1849. He received his training from the French landscape architect Édouard François André . In 1889 Thays traveled to Argentina to create the Parque Sarmiento in Cordoba . During this time, Thays fell so much in love with the country that he decided to stay there. He worked mainly in Buenos Aires, where in 1891 he was appointed Director de Parques y Paseos (director of parks and walks). Through this position he had a lot of influence on the design of the open spaces of the city and his work can still be clearly felt in the image of the city today.

His larger projects included the planting of trees on streets, the redesign of public spaces and paths, and the creation and expansion of existing parks. In the city of Buenos Aires, these include the parks Centenario , Lezama , Patricios and Barrancas de Belgrano as well as the plazas (squares) Constitución , Congreso , General San Martín and de Mayo . Thay's French origins are reflected in many of his designs, which is another reason why many of the parks and squares in Buenos Aires are compared to similar facilities in Paris.

In 1896 he designed the Parque San Martin . Among his works is the largest surface area of 25 hectares large Parque Tres de Febrero , also known as the Palermo known. It is located in the Palermo district and is also famous for its rose garden ( El Rosedal ).

Another project that was very close to his heart was the Buenos Aires Botanical Garden . He managed to get the city council to provide eight hectares of land for this, which he divided into different sections to represent the flora of each continent. This included a large area for the native plants of Argentina, which were ignored in garden design at the time. He spent a long time researching the germination of yerba mate seeds and is therefore considered to be the inventor of industrially grown yerba mate in Argentina. The garden was completed in 1898 and has been called Jardín Botánico Carlos Thays de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires ever since . One of the greenhouses is from the 1900 World's Fair in Paris. It was dismantled for transport and rebuilt in Buenos Aires. The herbarium , which was built in the English Regency style, served Thays as a residence during the construction of the park.

Thay's creative period in Buenos Aires coincided with a high population growth in the city due to immigration. It is now recognized that the city would look different if Thays had not had these high standards for his designs and at the same time insisted on the numerous open spaces.

Although Thays mostly worked in Buenos Aires, he was also able to realize projects in other parts of Argentina. These include the above-mentioned Parque Sarmiento in Córdoba, the layout of Parque 9 de Julio in San Miguel de Tucumán , Parque Independencia in Rosario , Parque General San Martín in Mendoza as well as the design of Bulevar Artigas in Montevideo and parks in Uruguay . He was also responsible for the park of the Club Hotel de la Ventana in the province of Buenos Aires .

Works

• Sus Escritos Sobre Jardines y Paisajes . New edition, Librerias Yenny, 2002, ISBN 978-987-507-226-8 .

Web links

Commons : Carlos Thays  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Buenos Aires City Council: Biographical Data (Spanish)
• Biography of Thays (English)