Enrique Ferrarese
Quick Facts
Biography
Enrico Francesco Leopoldo "Enrique" Ferrarese (July 3, 1882 – January 1, 1968) was an Italian Argentine real estate developer.
Professional life
Born in Cerea, Italy in 1882, he arrived in Argentina at age 2 with his father, Giuseppe Angelo, and his mother, Luigia Martini, who renamed him Enrique Ferrarese. He married Ana Carrasco González (1888–1924), a Spanish immigrant to Argentina with whom he fathered four children: Enriquito, Blanca, Ali and Noemí. Enrique founded the construction firm Ferrarese Hermanos & Cia. with his brother Guido. The firm begun working mostly on façades, plaster details and ornamental finishing on other major projects such as the Bola de nieve (snowball) a large spherical structure on top of a building located in the intersection of Córdoba and Laprida. The warehouse of Ferrarese Hermanos & Cia. was located at 1251 Callao Street.
The Bola de nieve building stands today as one of the architectural landmarks of Rosario. Soon thereafter Ferrarese Hermanos & Cia. went on to build family homes and a series of retail service stations for the Dutch oil company, Shell. One of the first major works was the construction of another iconic building in Rosario, the one known as the palacio "La Rosario", which will later become the birthplace of the legendary guerrilla warrior Ernesto Guevara, aka Che Guevara. "La Rosario", is situated in the intersection of Urquiza and Entre Rios. Next in line came the Palacio Fuentes, a recognizable landmark and one of the first skyscrapers in South America.
Other projects carried out by Ferrarese Hermanos & Cia. under the direction of Enrique Ferrarese were the "Club Rosarino de Pelota", the "Barrio Fisherton Golf Club", the tribune of "Newell's Old Boys" stadium in Parque de la Independencia, which showcases the first flying roof (not sustained by columnar structures) in South America and the apartment building commissioned by Countess of Chateaubriand in Buenos Aires which was probably one of the last known buildings erected by the firm. Enrique Ferrarese died in Rosario on January 1, 1968, at the age of 86.