A House in Heaven

Around the beginning of the 20th Century, when Don Rafael Diaz was 15 years old, he worked in a general store in the Montserrat area of Buenos Aires. He worked hard and even spent nights sleeping under the counter and the owner of the store would tell him that he would be rewarded for his hard work in heaven, where a house was waiting for him.

25 years later, in 1927, as owner of one of the largest furniture shops in Buenos Aires, he made this prediction come true by building his own little house in heaven, on top of his store, overlooking what is now el Obelisco & Plaza de la Republica.

The House on the 9 de Julio

The house, based on a Normandy-style chalet Don Rafael had seen in Mar del Plata, was his home for the following 40 years until he died in 1968. In the following years the business he had built up struggled to survive and in the 1970’s the building was sold and his chalet converted to offices. Today, surrounded by huge advertising hoardings, it’s not always easy to spot, but it’s still there – the only house in Buenos Aires with a view of the Obelisco.