Villa Crespo

Villa Crespo is a middle-class neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, located in the geographical centre of the city. It had a population of 83,646 people in 2001, and thus population density of 23,235 inhabitants/km².

Villa Crespo is also sometimes referred to as Palermo Queens since Palermo is considered a more expensive neighborhood and renaming it as part of Palermo allows people to charge higher rents, etc.

It grew around the "Fábrica Nacional de Calzado" (National Shoe Factory, 1888). The first name of the neighbouhood was San Bernardo that remained of general use during the first twenty-five years, in spite that officially it is named after Buenos Aires mayor, Antonio F. Crespo. On April 11, 1894, the San Bernardo church was opened to the public. Villa Crespo was home to several conventillos, including the most famous one, the Conventillo de la Paloma. Under Juan B. Justo avenue runs the Maldonado waterstream, culverted to prevent major floods.

Villa Crespo has been traditionally associated with the Jewish community, hosting as it does several synagogues, Hebrew schools and youth movements. However, the Jewish migration to Argentina was minimal until the 1930s, being until that decade mostly oriented to farming colonies and other rural activities. Actually Villa Crespo is populated by a mix of different peoples, just like the rest of Buenos Aires. Its traditional football club is Atlanta.

Until the 1980s, it had a clothing commercial centre in Scalabrini Ortiz Avenue (previously named Canning), but this has lost its strength over the years. The main commercial hub is still the intersection of Scalabrini Ortiz and Corrientes avenues, these 2 roads being also the main axes of the neighbourhood.

Some leather clothes stores are located in the area around Murillo street, and on Warnes Avenue are numerous auto-part stores. On the other hand, the neighbourhood has a relative lack of parks and squares.