British heritage in Lomas de Zamora: the train stations

Remedios de Escalada is a traditional train station. Just behind the bridge which is next to Hipólito Yrigoyen Avenue (also known as Pavón Avenue) lies the old community of Remedios de Escalada. This was the place where the Banfield workshop workers lived. Here one can find a few blocks of houses that resemble the working class neighbourhoods in London.  The following train station owes its name to Edward Banfield, the first manager of The Big South Railway (as it was called then). You will see that in the area between Alvear, Las Heras and Vieytes; the British style buildings grow in importance - it is no longer a working class town nowadays - and we can find many beautiful English houses, including some Tudor style ones.  The next, and most important train station is Lomas de Zamora. Its design dates from 1864. The gardened chalets built for railway executives near railway stations gave Lomas, Banfield and Temperley a pointed English atmosphere to these areas, especially in winter when shrouded in grey mists and fallen oak leaves over cobblestones.

British heritage in Lomas de Zamora: detached and semi detached houses

Most single-family homes are built on lots larger than the structure itself, adding a gardened area surrounding the house. Garages can also be found on most lots. These homes are known as detached houses as the building does not share an inside wall with any other house or dwelling. It has only outside walls and does not touch any other dwelling. There are also semi-detached ones, that is houses that consist of pairs of houses built side by side as units sharing a wall and usually each house's layout is a mirror image of its twin. This style of housing, although built throughout the world, is commonly seen as particularly symbolic of the British Isles.

Our visit to Holy Trinity Church in Lomas

Holy Trinity Church  is one of the first churches founded in the area in 1872. It  still exists on the corner of Brown Avenue and Cerrito Street,  just on the boundary  between Lomas and Temperley, the area where the best preserved English style neighbourhood can be found . Even if it is not as important as in Temperley,  the centre of Lomas also shows part of the British heritage in the area between Meeks Avenue,   España, Colombres and Garibaldi streets.

Our visit to St Andrew's Church in Temperley

George Temperley, an English man who worked in the cattle industry, was the one who gave his name to the city. There - surrounded by tiny streets - lies the so called English neighbourhood, probably the most traditional area preserved by the British immigrants. Along its streets, (Meeks, Brandsen, Garibaldi and 25 de Mayo) there are still some neighbours who keep their mother tongue, and on Sunday morning attend mass at Saint Andrews Scottish Church (on the corner of Espora and General Paz) that celebrates is 100th anniversary this year with a big Bazaar on November 9th.