The
Beaux Arts building was designed by the architects Emilio Agrelo and Roland Le Vacher in 1889 to accommodate a shop called the
Argentine Bon Marché, modelled on the
Le Bon Marché in
Paris. In 1896 part of the building was transformed into the first home for the
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and in 1908 the British-owned
Buenos Aires and Pacific railway company acquired part of the building for offices. The company's name derived from the fact that its intention was to operate a train service linking
Buenos Aires and
Valparaíso in
Chile, thereby giving access to the
Pacific Ocean. From that time onwards the building became known as
Edificio Pacífico. == Torture chamber ==