The Fifth District

The Fifth District (El Quinto Cuartel)

The “Quinto Cuartel” is a Victoria district, sited in the southwest side of the city close to the river, which contains an important historical meaning because it was the first urban nucleus resided by Basque and Genoese immigrants. There underlying a big part of our history.
From the beginning of 19th century, this place was the principal source of the local economy. The most important activities were lime processing (that was brought from another zone of Victoria) in limestone kilns, and the fluvial transport of regional merchandises trough the port.

The original edifications were built according to the European style for country houses with two floors and tiled roofs gabled. The ground floor was used as a stable -like an extra source of heat- and people lived in the first floor.

Although this kind of building didn’t have sense because the winter here wasn’t so cold as in Europe, where the animals were placed in the ground floor for heating.

Some houses had basement, that was used as a wine cellar, wich its access was reached from the inside of the building. the facades were simple, without moldings, with the exception of the ledge on which rested the roof.

Social life and economic activity
The freshness of the grapevine met the family in the summer evenings, full of heat and mosquitoes.
The big industrialization of limestone, river transport trade of fruits, products and goods, were the mainstays of the economy of the Fifth Quarter. To the point that the Quinto Cuartel had the first bank of the town, the "Banco Lanieri", (from 1860 to 1870), which issued its own money.

The men bleached by the dust of the limestone, used pants of a cloth called "cabrona" hardened by the lime. They fill the interior under the oven through oval doors with woods acting like fuel. Then, they fill until the top of the oven with limestone that the fire turned into lime. The smoke sorrounded the houses of the place for many days and after that the workers downloading the product obtained in large wicker baskets. Is interesting to remember that this lime helped to built the city of La Plata, for example.

A song about an old tale from The Fifth District

The famous bridge "Puente de Antón" communicated two parts of the river, an the solid of it was so strong that still exists, despite the floods, the big charges, and the pass of the heavy train over it.

Until the three firsts lustrums of 20th century, the Port of the “Quinto Cuartel” was still a significant exit for local goods, such as flax, greasy wool, dry cattle hides, cattle, and fish oil, and the access to imported manufactures. The lime didnt appear no more.

The decadence of this area begins in 1920 when the city starts the construction of a new harbour near the railway station and the closure of the huge general store "Casa Reggiardo", wich was the most important work source of the zone.