The Casa Redonda, or “Round House,” in Palermo Chico has long been a mysterious fixture of one of the most elegant and affluent neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. On the wooden front gate, reliefs of Dante and his muse, Beatrice, guard the entrance to an architectural gem that sat empty for eight years.

This rounded residence was designed by Mario Palanti, the renowned Italian architect behind the city’s famous Barolo Palace. As a sign on the house indicates, Palanti designed the Casa Redonda together with architect Marcos Algier, in the 1920s. The unique structure fuses together various architectural styles, ringed by Art Deco arches and crowned with an ornate tower.

You enter the building through a rounded hall and a beautiful wooden staircase with bronze details, flanked by street lamps from another era. On the upper level, you can look down on one of the most elegant avenues in Buenos Aires. The Palermo Chico (aka Barrio Parque) neighborhood is home to millionaires, politicians, and celebrities, and is lined with a number of embassies, lavish houses, and penthouse buildings showing off an eclectic mix of architectural styles. The streets of this exclusive pocket of the city are not very crowded and are paved with the beautiful purple and blue colors of the flowering local jacarandá tree.

Though little is known about the Palanti Round House, it’s believed it was built for the wealthy Fevre family, who represented Chrysler in Argentina. Starting in 1980, the building housed the Embassy of Iran, before being closed and abandoned for nearly a decade. The Casa Redonda was recently restored by the company Argentina Mobili and now serves as a luxury furniture showroom and a contemporary art gallery.