The “Caleras Rosarinas s.A.” (1891-1927). Rosario, Argentina. From the urban blueprint to lost materiality

Abstract

At the end of the 19th century, Rosario’s housing growth, due to the immigration balance, also implied an urban growth by extension. The architecture - domestic or public and of different qualities, also required huge amounts of material for building purposes. One of these materials, used universally even today, was lime. The lime manufacturing processes required large spaces, tanks, kilns, abundant water and a distribution system, both for the raw material - calcium carbonate - and for the finished product: lime, ready to be used. An old urban blueprint from 1899, showed a lost lime factory in Rosario, lost in its original materiality and in popular memory, and even in historical documents too. The remains found in 2018 allowed to be seen archaeologically and through an investigation, currently underway, to define its industrial importance. Based on the progress achieved to date, the aim of this paper is to present the case of CALERAS ROSARINAS S.A. (c.1896 - c. 1927), as an archaeological site joined to processes of socioeconomic change and to show -and to think- those same changes, that finally promoted their disappearance.