The Engineer’s Barrio

John Coghlan was an Irish engineer, born in 1824. Educated in Paris, and several years of work on various European railway lines, he was recruited at the age of 33 by the Argentine government as a consulting engineer to work on various projects related to railways and the Buenos Aires harbor. He supplemented that work with private consulting to some of the early commercial railway lines. After thirty years in Argentina he retired and moved to England, where he lived until passing away in 1890. The following year, the Buenos Aires government renamed one of the railway stations after him, and over time, Barrio Coghlan grew up around the station. Coghlan is located in the northern part of the city.

I spent a couple of hours wandering the neighborhood, checking out what various websites touted as key things to see in the barrio. I started off at the bus stop noted in the upper right of the map, and then headed on the route in a clockwise direction.

First stop, Hospital Pirovano. Named after Dr. Ignacio Pirovano, it’s the public hospital for the barrio. The good doctor is often referred to as the father of Argentine surgery. He perfected the use of asepsis techniques in public hospitals, performed the first laparotomy in the country, and was one of the principal instructors for new surgeons in the local medical school system. I was initially drawn to some of the artwork on the exterior walls, and it quickly became a theme of this walk.

Crossing under the railroad tracks I encountered this huge wall mural.

Here, the train station for Coghlan. Obviously its been spruced up since it was first built, and later named for Coghlan in 1890. It houses a small public library. There’s a pedestrian crossing bridge on the opposite side of the station from the underpass I’d come through, and it’s noted as one of the few remaining iron pedestrian bridges in the city.

There were a couple of minor things that I took a look at, but aren’t really worth a photo spread – a small plaque at the base of a flagpole commemorating the bicentennial here in 2016, and a tall brick ventilation tower over the neighborhood sewer system, which, apparently is visit-able in more normal times, but currently closed.

More cool street art. I think the one of the matador is my favorite – it’s just really well done – but I liked them all.

The main local Catholic church and school, Santa Maria de los Ángeles. There was some sort of huge event taking place in front of the school, so I couldn’t really get closer to take good photos.

One does need sustenance on these walks, and I was in a burger mood. Several sites suggested Draft by MyBeer, Manuela Pedraza 4069 as the spot for a good beer and burger, and it was conveniently close by, and timed just right (all intentional, of course). I haven’t spent a lot of time in Coghlan, though I’ve had… let’s see, pizza at Atilano, parrilla at Gran Parrilla Cramer, and Peruvian fare at ZMP. And, I’ve visited the Ann Frank House after a meal in a neighboring barrio.

I like this place. It’s a cool, semi-outdoor beer garden. On tap, roughly a dozen beers from Argentine producers Goyeneche, Bordona, Escalada, and Guten Bier. The waitstaff are friendly and helpful. My eye was caught by a burger topped with provolone, a bell pepper ring filled with a fried egg, and crispy onion rings. I left the choice of the beer in the hands of the barman, who brought me a Bordona Stout, great choice with the burger. The burger itself, a good idea, but everything was completely unseasoned. There seemed to be no salt, no pepper, no nothing in the burger patty, the egg, the onion rings (which weren’t at all crispy), nor the waffle chips. It was easy enough to sprinkle salt on things, but there should at least be some already in the food. Given that, it was still a decent burger.