Alejandro Christophersen (1866–1946) was an Argentine architect and artist who designed many important buildings in the city of Buenos Aires, including the renowned Anchorena Palace.
Biography
Christophersen was born in Cádiz, Spain in 1866, the son of the Norwegian diplomat Otto Thorvald Alexander Christophersen, Consul to Spain. He studied architecture in Belgium and art in Paris. In 1888 he arrived in Argentina, and settled in Buenos Aires, during his career as an architect he gave the port city many of its most important buildings.
He was a professor at the School of Architecture of the Faculty of Natural and Exact Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires, he is considered to be one of the central figures of eclectic architecture in Argentina, where he was one of the founder members of the Central Society of Architects. His earlier works were influenced by French Second Empire architecture, though his later projects were Rationalist.
Christophersen was also an accomplished painter, and became well known for his impressionist portraits of local society ladies. He died in Buenos Aires in 1946.
