Address: Posadas 1725 – Recoleta
The lines its structure shows pertain to the French style reigning in the city towards the end of the XIX century. It was first used as an ice skating rink, reason why it had such name. It opened in 1911, and in 1921 its floor was covered in wood, and was turned into a dance hall that became highly important and famous for porteños. It competed with tango cabarets like “Armenoville”, “Hansen”, and the “Pabellon de Rosas”. However, this was where the high-class resisted to those low-class and low-category music, so different from what the elite thought and felt about it. But, after time passed, and specially after the tango revolution in Paris, the feelings of this aristocracy towards tango changed, to finally adopt it as the musical genre par excellence in the city. Then, this place became the tango place. It was the stage for the performance of the orchestras of Francisco Canaro, Roberto Firpo and Julio De Caro, among many others. Now, it keeps great part of the history about the city, and many anecdotes, some of them involving Carlos Gardel. Later, due to a renovation plan of many important buildings, it was taken over by the National Commission of Fine Arts. In 1931, the architect Alejandro Bustillo was in charge of its restoration, respecting the original external structure; regarding the interior, he turned it into exposition halls. From then on, it started to host the National Hall of Fine Arts, which still attracts our artists. It is still popularly known by porteños as “Palais de Glace”.
