El hogar: Introduction
In talking about homes, one interesting thing is to look at the homes of presidents and well-known people in other countries. We are going to do some of that throughout this unit. We have already discussed the former home of the Spanish royalty in Mexico and we saw the home of the Príncipe y Princesa de Asturias in Spain.
While our President lives in the White House, in Buenos Aires, Argentina the President lives in the Pink House - La Casa Rosada, pictured here. The building was done in an Italian style of architecture and became very famous during the rule of Juan and Eva Perón. There is a balcony in the Casa Rosada where the presidents came out to give speeches.
La Casa Rosada was not always the presidential home in Argentina. It used to be the Customs and Post Office for the nation's capital city. >
Another home of interest is the home of the Mexican President, Los Pinos. This house, which is also known as the Miguel Alemán house, was built in 1946. It is located in the beautiful and spacious Chapultepec Park in Mexico City. It is an immense house, some 5,700 square meters on three levels, and it took five years to build. The house has a small theatre, bowling alley, a gym and a swimming pool.
When Vicente Fox became president in 2000, he and his family decided to live in some of the smaller houses on the sides of Los Pinos. President Fox converted much of the floor space into governmental offices, saving the Mexican government a considerable sum of money in office space rent.