It was designed by the architect Mario Palanti, an Italian immigrant living in Buenos Aires, who used a similar design for his Palacio Barolo in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Finished in 1928, Palacio Salvo stands 100 m (330 ft) high with the antenna included.

[1] It was built on the site where the Confiteria La Giralda was once located, a place renowned for being where Gerardo Matos Rodríguez wrote his tango La Cumparsita in 1917.

At present, on that same historic site, inside Palacio Salvo, the Tango Museum of Montevideo is open to the public, and exhibits the history of La Cumparsita and of Uruguayan Tango.

The specifications stated “on the top part of the tower a lighthouse will be placed made by Salmoiraghi of Italy, with a parabolic mirror of 920 mm (36 in), reaching approximately 100 km (62 mi), and a rotating 100 amp lamp.” [3] The building was originally intended to be a hotel, but this plan did not work out, and it has since been occupied by a mixture of offices and private residences.