The Regulation of Buenos Aires' Private Architecture During the Late Eighteenth Century

The end of the Habsburg dynasty in 1700 left the Spanish empire in ruins, and the military defeats and ensuing peace treaties considerably diminished Spain's power in Europe. The new century saw the arrival of the Bourbon dynasty and with it a greater French influence. Under the banner of the Enlightenment, monarchical rule and scientific knowledge combined in Spain to bring about a more comprehensive form of government, whose internal policies aimed at improving educational opportunities, social conditions and economic life.

The set of new rules and regulations implemented by the new monarchs in order to achieve these goals are now known as the Bourbon Reforms, and their economic implications for the River Plate region have been the subject of much research. This article intends to add to studies of the region from an urban perspective, focusing on the transformation that its capital city, Buenos Aires, experienced under the Bourbons, with the intention of revealing how the new authorities attempted to reinstate the urban layout of the city by dictating new aesthetic values at both urban and domestic levels. As will be explained, the stricter control of land and building also meant stricter control of the population, but Buenos Aires' citizens — known asporteños— accepted this, as they rapidly learnt that submitting to constraints on their privately-financed architecture could leave them with a healthy profit.