Villa Crespo

Villa Crespo
Barrio
Cityscape view over Villa Crespo
Location of Villa Crespo within Buenos Aires
Country	Argentina
Autonomous City	Buenos Aires
Comuna	C15
Important sites	Memorial to Osvaldo Pugliese
Area
• Total	3.8 km2 (1.5 sq mi)
Population (2001)
• Total	89,859
• Density	24,000/km2 (61,000/sq mi)
Time zone	ART (UTC-3)

Villa Crespo is a middle-class neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, located in the geographical centre of the city. It had a population of 83,646 people in 2001, and thus population density of 23,235 inhabitants/km². Villa Crespo celebrates its anniversary on June 3rd.

Villa Crespo was also sometimes referred to as Palermo Queens around 2007. This trade name, caused a reaction from the Neighborhood Association and Historical Studies at the Ombudsman of the city of Buenos Aires. They issued Resolution 2549/07, resulting in 14 realtors being sanctioned for publishing misleading advertising, in violation of the consumer competition law and fair trading law, and violation of the law of neighborhood boundaries and the tourist protection law. Palermo is considered a more expensive neighborhood and renaming Villa Crespo as part of Palermo would allow people to charge higher rents, etc.

It grew around the "Fábrica Nacional de Calzado" (National Shoe Factory, 1888). The first name of the neighborhood was San Bernardo and that remained in general use during its first twenty-five years, in spite of it being officially named after Buenos Aires mayor, Antonio F. Crespo. On April 11, 1894, the San Bernardo church was opened to the public. Villa Crespo was home to several conventillos, including the most famous one, the Conventillo de la Paloma. Under Juan B. Justo avenue runs the Maldonado waterstream, culverted to prevent major floods.

Villa Crespo has been traditionally associated with the Jewish community, hosting as it does several synagogues, Hebrew schools and youth movements. However, the Jewish migration to Argentina was minimal until the 1930s, until that decade mostly oriented to farming colonies and other rural activities. Actually Villa Crespo is populated by a mix of different peoples, just like the rest of Buenos Aires. Its traditional football club is Atlanta.

Until the 1980s, it had a clothing commercial centre in Scalabrini Ortiz Avenue (previously named Canning), but this has lost its strength over the years. The main commercial hub is still the intersection of Scalabrini Ortiz and Corrientes avenues, these two roads being also the main access of the neighborhood.