History of the Museum Building

The building of the Central Bank Museum, located at 216 San Martín Street in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA), was inaugurated on January 28, 1862 and is one of the oldest buildings preserved in the area near the Plaza de Mayo. In 2005 it was declared a National Historic Monument by Decree No. 1563.

Its construction began in 1860 when Henry Hunt and Hans Schröder, pioneers of Argentine banking architecture, were winners of the competition promoted by the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange for the construction of its new headquarters.

The original building projected on its façade the Italian Neo-Renaissance style of the nineteenth century. The ground floor was double height and was accessed through a vestibule flanked by doors with stained glass. The upper floor had a service sector, intended for complementary premises; and to the manager’s home. This double-height central hall was surrounded by offices. In the center was a polygonal pedestal, around which brokers and buyers gathered to carry out stock market transactions.

The entrance to the building was removed from the municipal line, which modified the traditional alignment of buildings. The atrium, closed on the outside with a grille and gas-lit lanterns, gave perspective to the Ionic façade with pilasters and cornices. At the beginning of 1871, Schröderer added a cast iron balcony on the first floor overlooking the central hall on the ground floor.

In 1887, the Stock Exchange inaugurated a new headquarters and the building at 216 San Martín Street was occupied by the National Mortgage Bank. Later, in 1890, it became the first headquarters of the Caja de Conversion. When the latter financial institution moved to 275 San Martín Street, it left the building as the headquarters of the National Public Credit Office.

In 1935, when the Central Bank was created, the building at 216 San Martín became part of the institution, like all those that belonged to the Caja de Conversion and the National Public Credit Office.

In 1966, the central space for the headquarters of the Interbank Clearing House was refurbished and the Computer Center was located on the ground floor. The double height with a roof on the first floor was eliminated. In the 1980s, English training classrooms, a staff dining room and the administrative premises of the Central Bank Staff Club were housed on the second floor. In 1989, the Raúl Prebisch Library and the Numismatic Museum moved.

In 2005, the Prebisch Library moved to the building located at 250 Reconquista Street and began the enhancement of the building to be the exclusive headquarters of the Museum. The refurbishment of the building included modernisation in accessibility, lighting and air conditioning, and the expansion of the exhibition halls, auditorium and offices. In addition, the original skylight in the central hall was recovered to have natural light and the old vault of the Conversion Fund was reconditioned for the protection of the numismatic heritage.

The Central Bank Museum was reopened in 2011, 70 years after its creation. In 2017 he received the name of “Héctor Carlos Janson”, the Argentine numismatist who donated his monetary collection and positioned the Museum as the greatest reference in Argentine monetary history.

Current façade of the “Héctor Carlos Janson” Historical and Numismatic Museum, located at San Martín 216, CABA