Capitán Sarmiento, Buenos AiresScrollExclusively for sale
In 1979, Clorindo Testa — one of the great masters of Argentine architecture — designed a country house on the Pampa together with Héctor Lacarra, who was both its co-author and its first owner. Every detail was studied. Almost fifty years later, Las Mandarinas is offered for sale for the first time to the international market.
11ha
of private land
350m²
main residence
1979
designed by Clorindo Testa
140km
from Buenos Aires
150+
fruit trees in production
5.5m
ceiling in the living room
Casa Lacarra, archive photographArch. Clorindo Testa (1923–2013)
The Architect
The Pampa, according to Clorindo Testa
The 1960s were a challenge for a generation of Argentine architects. Clorindo Testa became a reference on the international scene — not least for revealing, in his experimental single-family houses, the genius loci of a very particular part of Argentina: the Pampa.
The infinite space, the vastness, the forms of agricultural production and the rural buildings that already stood on the land became the material of an architecture in dialogue with its context. For Testa, the result is a spatial continuum between nature and the built.
«An architecture impregnated with the spirit of truth.»
Le Corbusier, on the rural buildings of the Pampa
The interweaving of volumes recalls one of his masters, Le Corbusier — the convent of La Tourette above all — in the play of light and the majestic roof. Sunlight enters every room through openings that are at times strictly rectilinear, at times arched.
1960sTesta and Lacarra collaborate on the great Hospital Naval Central in Buenos Aires.
1979Las Mandarinas is designed, with Héctor Lacarra as co-author and client.
1981The house is completed on the Pampa near Capitán Sarmiento.
2006Extension: caretaker’s house and the guest wing with its quincho.
SoonTo be published by Sapienza University of Rome in a volume on all of Testa’s houses.
The House
Two volumes, one landscape
Greenery surrounds a house divided into two bodies: the main one, crowned by a majestic gabled roof, and a long, low building that Raffaele Tregua transformed into the guest wing and the quincho — the “sacred” space of Argentine culture — with a typically Italian touch inside: a great Sicilian wood-fired oven.
Drag or scroll
01The south façade and its arched window02The same façade, as photographed in the early years03The terrace facing the park04The steel-truss roof, drawn like a barn05Gardens against the red walls06The guest wing — three en-suite rooms07Main house and guest wing
Interiors
Light, until evening, in every season
At the heart of the house, a 70 m² living room rises 5.5 metres under an irregular pagoda-shaped ceiling of timber and steel, warmed by a great fireplace. From the studio overlooking the salon, natural light lasts until evening in every season.
Testa’s greatness lies in having ennobled an apparently “rural” type of dwelling. The children’s beds are built in wood, as if in a barn or a stable — yet within the whole design they acquire great formal value, as do the bespoke bathroom cabinets. A saloon door separates the day and night areas.
The main house
Living room of 70 m², 5.5 m high, with fireplace
Master bedroom en suite, with its own fireplace
Bedroom with two made-to-measure bunk beds
Bedroom with two built-in masonry beds
Kitchen with bespoke cabinetry and hand-painted tiles
Mezzanine studio overlooking the salon
The studio, reached by a ship’s ladderArches frame the gardenBunk beds built to measure, as in a barn
The Ceramics
The hand of Teresa Bortagaray de Testa
From the kitchen to the bathrooms, wall ceramics painted one by one by Teresa Bortagaray de Testa — ceramist, and the architect’s wife — lead guests through “fantastic” worlds: now into a jungle, now among the waves of the sea.
Working with Teresa allowed Clorindo to declare openly, in the 1970s, his support for craft over industrial production. Las Mandarinas is one of the very few Testa houses where this testimony still exists — and is beautifully preserved.
Time here is set by the apple and mandarin trees, by the roosters calling across the fields, and by the trot of horses.
— Federica Conte, architect
The Estate
Eleven hectares of Pampa
For those who live far away — in Europe, North America or Asia — the Pampa is one of the last great open spaces on earth: a silence you can hear, and a horizon that never ends. Las Mandarinas is a home of your own in one of the most exotic corners of the world, for the months of the year when you want to disappear. It only seems far from everything: the town is minutes away, and Buenos Aires an easy drive down the highway.
Furthermore, it is possible to generate revenue from the property during the owners’ absence by operating as a luxury agritourism business, using it as a boutique hotel, or even as a venue for cultural, spiritual, or managerial events.
01 / 08
01
The pool
10 × 5 m (80,000 L), designed by the architects themselves, with a covered patio, masonry seating, a separate shower and night lighting.
02
The orchard
1.5 hectares with more than 150 trees in production — orange, mandarin, lemon, peach, apricot, hazelnut and more.
03
Horses & riding
Paddocks and open fields for riding out across the countryside at any hour of the day.
04
Sport
A floodlit five-a-side football pitch and a grass tennis court.
05
Water & the land
A windmill over a well of pure water, drawing on an aquifer of several million m³, and irrigation throughout the property.
06
Kitchen garden
A 300 m² vegetable garden with adjoining greenhouse, drip irrigation and its own 2,500 L tank. Chicken coop.
07
Caretaker’s house
Built in 2006: 65 m² with living/dining room, two bedrooms, full bathroom, heating and an outdoor gallery, 50 m from the main house.
08
The galpón
A 150 m² barn for vehicles, machinery and workshop, plus a further 150 m² of rural buildings.
The Plan
Drawn along the path of the sun
The original plan sets the two volumes on the diagonal between north and south, tracing the sun’s arc from east to west across the day — so that every room receives its share of light.
Three en-suite rooms for guests
The long wing, extended in 2006, hosts three independent en-suite guest rooms opening onto a shaded gallery — and the quincho, with its Sicilian wood-fired oven.
Gallery
A walk through the estate
Location
Capitán Sarmiento, Buenos Aires
In the heart of the province of Buenos Aires, the estate lies just 1.5 km from the town of Capitán Sarmiento and 140 km from the capital along the Panamericana and Ruta Nacional 8 — close enough for a weekend, far enough for silence.
Las Mandarinas is offered to international buyers who value a work by an internationally renowned architect, and who want a place of their own to retreat to for part of the year. Country property in Argentina is still priced well below comparable international markets — an entry point with clear potential for appreciation in the short to medium term.
And when the owners are away, the estate can work for them.
01
Luxury agritourism
Riding out across the fields, the orchard, the kitchen garden and long lunches in the quincho: an authentic estancia experience for travellers in search of the real Argentina.
02
Boutique hotel
The main house and three independent en-suite guest rooms, in eleven hectares of private park — an intimate hotel with an architect’s signature.
03
Events & retreats
A setting for cultural gatherings, spiritual and wellness retreats, business meetings or private celebrations under the trees.
“An oasis of peace, rest and renewal while you live here — and a source of income while you travel the world tending to your business.”
Fact sheet
The property at a glance
Land
110,000 m² (11 ha)
Main residence
350 m² · 3 bedrooms
Guest wing
3 en-suite rooms · quincho with wood-fired oven
Caretaker’s house
65 m² · 2 bedrooms (2006)
Galpón & rural buildings
150 m² + 150 m²
Pool
10 × 5 m, covered patio
Architects
Clorindo Testa & Héctor Lacarra
Ceramics
Teresa Bortagaray de Testa
Year
Designed 1979 · built 1981 · extended 2006
Price
On request
Private viewings
Arrange a visit to Las Mandarinas
Speak directly with the owner. We answer in English, Spanish and Italian, and gladly organise private viewings, video tours and the full property dossier.
