Hotel de Inmigrantes

The hotel was "conceived as a citadel, compris[ing of] a series of buildings or pavilions arranged around a central plaza" and included, in order of construction, the disembarkation hall, the employment office, the administration block, the hospital, and the accommodation facilities.[4][9][1] All services were offered free of charge to residents.[8][9] The expectation was that residents would stay for a maximum of five days, with exception to those who were ill or could not find work.[3][8][4] Some stayed for months.[4]

Residents waiting for their dining shift to begin.

Upon the arrival of a vessel, immigration officers boarded the ship to check documents before allowing anyone to disembark. Medical checks were carried out on board by a doctor, and immigrants over the age of 60 and/or with physical or mental health problems, particularly those with communicable diseases, were not permitted to enter Argentina. Luggage inspection took place in disembarkation sheds before being returned to their owners.[4][9]

The employment office stood at the main entrance of the complex and primarily worked with immigrants to help them find employment. By 1913, the office added apprenticeships in agricultural machinery for both men and women; courses about Argentine society, customs, and language; and interpretation services. Propaganda was present in these courses. They also provided residents with identification cards and other necessary documents. A branch of Banco de la Nación Argentina was also on-site for currency exchange.[4][3][1][9][8] The hospital reportedly had the most advanced medical equipment of the time. Doctors cared for patients who had become ill due to ship conditions and poverty.[4][3]

The accommodation facilities were what initially became known as the Hotel de Inmigrantes. The building is four stories tall; the dining room, which had large windows overlooking the gardens, and kitchens on the ground level. The top three floors had four dormitories per floor, each bedroom with a capacity of 250 people. Women and children slept on the top floor to make it more difficult for men to sneak in. In lieu of a mattress, each bunk bed had "leather pieces" which were easier to clean and disinfect in the event of an outbreak.[1][4][3][8]

Though residents could come and go as they wanted, the Hotel maintained a strict schedule:[8]

Bunk beds in the women's and children's dormitories

• 6:00am - Breakfast of coffee with milk, mate cocido, and fresh bread. Residents ate in shifts of up to 1,000.[4][3][8]
• End of breakfast to 11am - Women would do domestic chores, including laundry and caring for the children, while men went to the city proper in search of work.[3][4]
• 11:00am - Lunch: stew. Residents ate in shifts of 1,000.[3][4]
• 3:00pm - Snack for children.[4][3]
• 6:00pm - Dinner.[3]
• 7:00pm - Bedrooms open to residents.[3]

Though Hotel de Inmigrantes was not the only complex of its type, it was considered to be more "luxurious" than others, with the press referring to it as a "palace for the poor."[1][8]

Argentina's open border policy tightened during World War I, the most stringent prohibiting entry from the "insane, convicts and beggars."[1][9][8] This 1916 law was difficult to police and the country required that immigrants provide a "certificate from the judicial authorities of their country of origin, stating that they have not been under the action of justice for crimes against social order during the ten years prior to their arrival, or for crimes that would have given rise to infamous penalties."[1]

The hotel was no longer used after the Revolución Libertadora except intermittently by the military and for visa application processes.[3][8][9] In the 1950s, the kitchens and dining room were used to feed the homeless population.[3] In 1990, it was named a National Historic Monument under President Carlos Menem.[4][3]

Visitors wandering the wide hallways of the Immigration Museum.