Discover an amazing place.

Review of Los Pingüinos

The oldest precedent of the lands where today we can find the north part of our Club goes back to the times of the colonization. On those lands, Francisco Antonio Herrero, a former senior official of the town-hall, ordered the construction of a brick house, which appears in the drawings of those times as the first relevant building of the area. That plot, together with 91 hectares of surrounding lands, was later bought by the tenant of the Márquez Bridge and, in his honor, was called "La Quinta de Luis Pellón".

After several transfers, towards the end of the 19th century, the property belonged to Benjamin Buteler, who named it after the woods surrounding the spacious colonial house. In 1912, his heirs sold it to Antonio Cesar Leloir, who that same year assigned it to his brother-in-law, Dr. Guillermo Udaondo, who had been governor of the Province of Buenos Aires from 1894 till1898. En 1925, after Guillermo passed away, one of his children sold off the land, which was purchased by mandate of Mauricio Braun in a value exceeding the maximum amount he had authorized his son Carlos. Surprisingly for the agent, one of his brothers had also been in the precincts with strict orders from his mother of buying the property "no matter the cost, Armando".

The cheerful and exciting 20´s witnessed the birth of Los Pingüinos as sports entity. According to the original by-laws, the club’s main goal would be "the polo practice and the development and breeding of the appropriate horse for such game ". The owner-members – the seven brothers Braun Menéndez – invited their polo-player friends to be part of the club as honorary members and, in this way, the polo practice begun to strengthen This sport had, in that time, just received in our country the maximum recognition at a world level in the Olympic Games of Paris, for Argentina received the first gold medal in all its history. A little afterwards, the members affiliated Los Pingüinos to the Argentine Polo Association. When registering the polo shirt, it was proposed for it to be blue. But, Blue Penguins?. Luckily, the Association answered that color had already been registered by another team; so the club was able to amend such zoological mistake and inform that the shirt would be half white as the snow and half black as the polar night, at least until it began to fade.

The most important sports moment for the club occurred in 1951 when, wearing the victorious colors of the Pinguins, the polo players galloped the grounds of Palermo, where they won the Argentine Polo Open Championship, the most important interclub competition of the world, with the remembered team formed by Luis Duggan, Gabriel Capdepont, Iván Mihanovich and Mariano Gutiérrez Achaval.

In the meantime, the historical house had been equipped with all the comforts of the modern residences. To the broad garden surrounding it and the picturesque roads with trees on their sides going through the garden, among which the road of access stood out with eucalyptus on both sides, delicate gardens, fruit orchards, stables, a house for the workmen and even a matera (typical argentine building in farms) were added. A dairy barn, a butcher’s shop and a garden-patch were also added, and the owners took the products manufactured there with them when they headed back to the big city. And God matters were not to be disregarded either. For this, the chapel that had been built when Mr. Udaondo was the owner was carefully repaired. Baptisms, first communions, weddings, traditional Easter Via Crucis and Christmas masses were celebrated in it, as well as religious services to thank heaven for such family happiness. In this environment, the club became a gathering place for the members´ children and all their friends during the weekends.

Such cheerful custom was passed to the next generation and the club became the meeting place of an on-growing family whose members contributed to with their own amount of friends. During the 60´s several sub divisions between the heirs were carried out and they started to do drawings of their future weekend houses, some of them with potential as permanent dwellings, while they waited for the rulers to finally keep the promise of the 20´s of asphalting Gaona´s street, main way of access. Besides the pre-existent administrator’s house, another house had been already built near the main one. During the 50´s and 60´s, at a dizzying rate, more houses were built on the property, some away from the main house and Los Pingüinos started to function as a virtual Country Club.

In the middle 70´s some third generation members glimpsed the idea of turning "La Chacra" into a Country Club, a concept already encysted in the suburban Buenos Aires. It was then decided to call a general meeting in which it was decided to order the Architect Hernán Elizalde, a specialist in the subject, to prepare the final project including the sub-division of plots of greater dimensions than those offered by the market with the aim of preserving the club’s identity. It was decided for the land owners to give half of their lands to cover the percentage destined to park open spaces required by the Country Clubs´ Regulation.

At first it seemed unrealistic to pretend to join so many wills but soon the doubts faded away when, in every case, the individual interest was subordinated to the general benefit. The sports activities, such as polo, tennis, horse-riding, and football would continue being practiced in common areas, and the construction of the two most important works, the golf course and the Club House, would begin. The first one, besides complying with its obvious aim of encouraging the golf game, would make the families settle down there and give more value to their lands; the second one would be used as a meeting center for the members. These projects, added to the fact that already some owner-members of the club didn’t belong to the family, helped to spread the welcoming message to anyone who desired to share this healthy living project.

Today, thanks to two better accesses, the Club is closer, in time terms, to the city; without having to give up the enviable peace atmosphere and privacy so valuable in these troubled times.

In this way, the aspiration of that visionary couple was fulfilled, and maybe in a way exceeding their fantastic dream.

ACTIVITIES

  • 6 Tennis courts with lights
  • 3 Football fields with lights
  • Horse-back riding and Warming-up arena
  • 3 grounds
  • 2 2 paddle courts with lights
  • Vacation camps (summer and winter)
  • GOLF

    Designed by the architect Angel Reartes, the 18 hole course was inaugurated on April, 1992. It was built in two different phases of 9 holes each; firstly the todays back 9 holes, initiated in the middle of 1988, where the old and varied woods were exploited. The holes that today constitute the front 9 holes needed more land movement as they were built on a more landscaped area, although some old trees were used.

    Of par 72, the course has a length of 6.824 yards, and counts with tee boxes for ladies and gentlemen. The tees are long and this allows the course to be built with different yardages.

    As water defense, the course counts with several ponds on both halves and with a winding stream affecting holes 13, 15 and 16. Trees and rough complement the difficulties on both fairways. Its Agrostis greens are famous for the way they receive; and their gentle waves allow calibrating the course’s difficulties by means of the arrangement of flags.

    During the year 2010 the installation of a computerized modern water-irrigation system was finished, which will gradually allow a more sophisticated use of the course.

    Located between the West Access and the Buen Ayre road, it has excellent accesses, quick and safe, from the north and the east and connected by high-ways, it is only 29 km away from the center of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.

    FACILITIES

    • Club House
    • Dormies
    • Bungalow (restaurant, grill and
      fast food)
    • Gym
    • Space for teen-agers
    • Swimming-pools for grown-ups and
      under-age children
    • Boxes
    • Corrals
    • Playground for children
    • Bungalow
    • Gym
    • Space for teen-agers
    • Underground telephone line
    • Internet (broad-band)
    • Electrical grid
    • Natural gas piping
    • DirectTV
    • Wi Fi in the Club House
    • Banelco ATM
    • Doctor's office
    • Protected area

    PHOTOS

    Directions to the Club

    Launch demo modal


    CONTACT US

    TELEPHONE: (54 11) 4621 4716
    secretaria@clublospinguinos.com.ar