Bernasconi Institute

The property became the site of a homemade museum in 1866, when 14-year-old Francisco Moreno and his father classified and mounted their extensive collection of fossils and artifacts, gathered in excursions.

Bernasconi's death in 1914 was followed by lobbying for federal contributions to the project by Moreno, who leveraged the prestige he earned in his role in the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina and as Assistant Director of the National Education Council to secure funding.

[1][2] Passed the Argentine Congress in 1918, Law 1420 provided the needed appropriations, and on 26 September 1921, the cornerstone was laid in a ceremony led by President Hipólito Yrigoyen.

Designed by local architect Juan Waldrorp, the eclectic, Italianate-influenced building was the largest school built in Buenos Aires to that point, and measured 140 m (460 ft) in length.

[2] Remaining among the largest in Buenos Aires, the institute's four primary schools enroll around 3,600 students yearly, and its kindergarten, around 580,[2] as well as an adult education facility.