Episode 124: Mathilde Díaz Vélez
Mathilde Díaz Vélez was an Argentinian urbanist, philanthropist, and developer born into a prominent and aristocratic family in Buenos Aires in 1899. Raised among architecture, entrepreneurship, and civic development, she was strongly influenced by her father, Carlos Díaz Vélez, an engineer and urbanist known for his progressive estate planning and worker-friendly housing projects.
Following the death of her father in 1925, Mathilde took over the family’s landholdings and continued his legacy by expanding their urban planning initiatives. She led the development of Villa Díaz Vélez in Necochea, a project begun by her grandfather in the late 19th century. Under Mathilde’s guidance, the area was promoted as one of Argentina’s first seaside resort towns, balancing residential needs with tourism and green public spaces.
Later, she spearheaded the creation of the town of Guernica, founded on her vision of accessible, dignified housing for all Argentinians. She submitted the plan to the provincial government, marking out space for homes, civic and religious institutions, schools, and farmland. Her project was approved in 1935, and she donated the land herself to bring it to life. Guernica was envisioned as a “garden city,” echoing her family’s tradition of integrating landscape design and social planning.
Beyond her urban development work, Mathilde remained active in cultural and philanthropic circles. She was a close friend of writer Victoria Ocampo and continued publishing the influential literary magazine Sur after Ocampo’s passing. She never married, but was closely involved with her extended family. Her will led to the founding of the Díaz Vélez Foundation, which continues today, offering education and scholarships in agriculture and rural development. Her legacy lives on through both the towns she helped shape and the foundation’s ongoing mission.
Caryatid: Díaz Vélez Foundation
In 1990, the Carlos Díaz Vélez Foundation was established in accordance with the wishes outlined in Mathilde Díaz Vélez’s will. Deeply committed to the advancement of agricultural and livestock education in Argentina, she donated three of her estates—Patina, Tita, and Rincón de Quequén—for this purpose. The foundation was named after her father, reflecting her desire to honor his legacy. The inaugural Board of Directors was led by Enrique Woodrow Álvarez de Toledo and included Inés Álvarez de Toledo and María Videla Escalada.
Check out their website to learn more about them and their great programs: https://www.fundaciondiazvelez.org.ar/
The foundation continues to uphold Mathilde’s vision by providing community classes, university scholarships, and educational programs for school children—initiatives that reflect her belief in accessible learning and rural development.
Thank you to listener Marcelo for providing clarification information listed below:
The current president of Carlos Díaz Vélez Foundation is Belisario Álvarez de Toledo who is Mathilde’s Díaz Vélez great-nephew.
Inés Álvarez de Toledo and the Bachelor of Political Sciences María Videla Escalada integrate the current Board of Directors as secretary and pro treasurer, respectively.
The others members of the Board of Directors are: Ing. Belisario Álvarez de Toledo, President; Ing. Carlos Álvarez de Toledo; Vice-President; and Ing. Carlos Juan Loitegui, treasurer.
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This transcript was prepared during the development of the episode.
Final recorded episode may deviate slightly from the content presented below as changes, edits, or improvements may be made during the recording and editing process.
Norgerie: Hi! Welcome to season 12 of She Builds Podcast, where we share stories about women in the design and construction field, one lady at a time.
Jessica: This season's theme is: “Government, Civic Work, and Urban Planning” . We are talking about ladies who were involved in public projects or service.
Lizi: As always, we are not experts, we are just sharing stories about the information that we find, as friends having a fun conversation. If you find an error, send us an email and we will all continue learning.
Norgerie: Today I wanna tell you about Mathilde Díaz Vélez, an urbanist and developer who began the Carlos Díaz Vélez Foundation. I’m Norgerie Rivas, thinking about my finances, in Houston Texas.
Jessica: Hi, I’m Jessica Rogers got paid and paid bills and taxes, in Miami, FL
Lizi: Hi, I’m Lizi Raar, glad I'm done with my taxes in San Francisco.
Norgerie: Get ready ladies, we're going to Argentina.
Jessica: yeahhhh
Lizi: WEEOOO!!! Vamos!
Norgerie: Vámonos. The time July 2, 1899, the place Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mathilde Díaz Vélez Álvarez de Toledo was born. Her parents were Carlos Segundo Díaz Vélez Uthurriague and Mathilde Juliana María Álvarez de Toledo Faix. And these people were well, to, do! Carlos was an engineer, a rancher, and an entrepreneur.
Jessica: I mean with names like that - they sound like they were shakin and bakin
Lizi: hahaha Ok, so we’re starting off in the upper echelon.
Norgerie: Both Carlos and Juliana were considered aristocrats of Buenos Aires. The thing is they both came from well known families. On her father’s side, she was the great-granddaughter of Eustoquio Díaz Vélez. Eustoquio was a decorated military general, involved in Argentina's war of independence from Spain, and Interim governor of Buenos Aires.
Jessica: SO Mathilde is basically a descendant of Royalty
Lizi: Yeah sounds like it.
Norgerie: Then on her mother’s side, she had literal Spanish nobility. descended from the Álvarez de Toledo family, I resisted doing a deep dive on this so all I can say is that this high nobility lineage goes all the way back to the 12th century. It's like the KING and QUEEN and then the Álvarez de Toledo. Ok not really don't quote me on that, but they were pretty high up in the food chain.
Jessica: Okay so doublely royal
Lizi: oh shoot, like actual royalty.
Norgerie: Ok so all that to say Mathilde is high class alright?
Jessica: yep
Norgerie: Her family called her Patina, that’s cute, butI like the name Mathilde so I'm gonna call her that.
Lizi: ok, so we’re not on close personal terms with Mathilde. Understood.
Jessica: noted
Norgerie: Mathilde had an older sister named María del Carmen Felicitas Díaz Vélez Álvarez de Toledo. This is a really long name so people called her Tita.
Lizi: Yeah that’s a mouthful. But they really went all out with shortening it huh?
Jessica: these names
Norgerie: Tita was a bit older than Mathilde, she was born on July 10, 1893
Lizi: So Mathilde was the bebe.
Jessica: just a few years and few days apart they are both July babies
Norgerie: During their childhood, they lived with their family in the Díaz Vélez Palace, in Buenos Aires. This building has so much history it has it's own Wikipedia page. You want me to share a little bit about it?
Lizi: Palace?! Oh okayyyyy. We weren’t kidding about royalty up in here. Yeah tell us.
Jessica: She is a princess. I didn’t imagine we would be talking about aristocracy during this season of urban planning and government ladies. Tell us about this palace.
Norgerie: Awesome, cause I was gonna tell you no matter what. The Díaz Vélez palace was built by Mathilde's grandad first as a one story building, kinda classical with columns and a garden surrounding it. Then in the 20th century it had a complete makeover more Beaux Arts style, three story building, seriously a palace.
Jessica: WOW
Lizi: Movin’ on up. Literally and figuratively.
Norgerie: From what I can tell at least two of grandpa Eustoquio's kids were still living at home Carlos and Eugenio. And not just the kids, who were now adults, we got Eugenio along with his wife María and two daughters slumming it with Carlos, Juliana, Tita, and Mathilde. It was a palace afterall, I imagine it's big enough for three generations to share a roof.
Lizi: I mean it sounds like it.
Jessica: Yeah no bunk beds over here. It also sounds like a fun way to grow up
Norgerie: Grandpa passed away in 1909 and left the palace to his son Eugenio who I forgot to mention was an architect. Eugenio hired the famous French landscape architect Carlos Thays to remodel the gardens. French Carlos added new fountains and statues.
Lizi: ooo very nice. I’m not gonna lie. French Carlos’ name felt real short to me at first glance.
Jessica: hahaha I wonder if they referred to him as the French Carlos and the other as Dad Argentian Carlos.
Norgerie: Little 10 year old Mathilde loses grandad and kinda loses home. Dad Carlos inherited different properties. You heard me right, plural. So they moved to this petit hotel which I learned is a term for an aristocratic vacation home. But they actually made that their new home and would spend their summers at another family property in Un Durazno, which also was part of their business, it had their farm. And Dad Carlos worked on expanding the house and the estate at Un Durazno for his workers, giving workers living quarters with electricity, running water, bathrooms…. This is where our Mathilde is growing up y'all surrounded by all this architecture, splendor, entrepreneurship, and development.
Lizi: wow. Sounds like Dad Carlos was good to his workers, but also a savvy entrepreneur.
Jessica: Yeah love how empathetic for Dad Carlos. And what a great opportunity to see different residences in different contexts
Lizi: Also sounds like Mathilde was livin’ the life.
Jessica: For real
Norgerie: Seriously Mathilde was soaking up everything happening around her, and who better to be a role model than Dad. He was not just an engineer and entrepreneur, he was also an urbanist, developer, and a bit of a philanthropist. He worked on expanding the estate of Un Durazno. He wanted to modernize the town so that his workers could live well. He developed a master plan with housing, church, a school, and a bank. Matilde learned to follow the varied businesses of ranching, managing livestock and philanthropy following the example she received from her father, Carlos.
Lizi: oh wow. Ok Dad Carlos. We see you.
Jessica: That sounds amazing
Norgerie: In 1914, Dad Carlos hired the Díaz Vélez favorite landscape designer Carlos Thays to design a park that joined the natural landscape which included a lagoon, with the Italian inspired architecture of the house in Un Durazno.
Lizi: French Carlos returns!
Jessica: but then brings in some intaliano
Norgerie: That same year, Tita, married the civil engineer Belisario Ernesto Álvarez de Toledo on December 11, 1914.
Lizi: Is that like her cousin??? Isn't that one of their 100 names?
Jessica:oooohhhh
Lizi: Very aristocratic of them.
Norgerie: I could not find any research saying they were family. If they were, I believe they must have been very distant cousins. I could not find any info on his family tree, I only found his name. So, Tita made Mathilde an aunt seven times! Mathilde never married or had children so she ended up being really close with her nieces and nephews.
Jessica: I mean I’m sure Tita had some hired help but that’s a lot of kids
Lizi: It sure is, but I love that Mathilde was living her best Tia life.
Norgerie: Mathilde was also a close friend of Victoria Ocampo, a famous Argentinian writer, founder and publisher of the magazine Sur, one of the most famous literary magazines of its time in Latin America.
Jessica: ooooh okay - I see you Mathilde shakin and bakin like your folks
Norgerie: In March 1920 Dad Carlos was named vice president of a hospital he and townspeople wanted to build in the town of Rauch. It would be named General Eustoquio Díaz Vélez Hospital.
On the day of its inauguration, October 19, 1925, Carlos passed away from a cardiac syncope.
Jessica: oohh roller coaster of emotions. That must have been a tough blow not only for the family but for the town’s people as well
Lizi: Oh NO! The irony of it being a hospital and him dying is not lost on me. That’s so sad though.
Norgerie: It is so sad. But this is about to change Mathilde’s life, of course it did, her dad just passed away. I'll tell you what happens next after a word from our sponsors.
Jessica: Suspense!
Norgerie: We're back! Guess who's gonna take over the family business.
Jessica: Mathilde!
Lizi: That’s right.
Norgerie: That's right Mathilde Big Boss Díaz Vélez that's who.
Lizi: Just adding a few more names.
Norgerie: She took charge managing, maintaining, and renovating assets and lands she inherited. And she was like I think I'm gonna take this land, continue my family's legacy and expand the design of the towns we have. Sure, that's what I'll do..
Jessica: Learning from her papa
Lizi: Yeah girl! Keep it going.
Norgerie: Ok so check this out. She started out her urban planner life with the project Villa Díaz Vélez, today a seaside area of the city of Necochea. The land had been in her family for years. In fact, town planning had begun under her grandpapa Eustoquio Díaz Vélez. Eustoquio had drawn up an initial town plan with streets and a little construction started in his time towards the end of the 19th century.
Jessica: oooh interesting
Lizi: Loving this direction we’re heading.
Norgerie: Dad Carlos kept going with the vision, he incorporated the land with the town of Necochea and he brought nature to the master plan. He organized for thousands of trees to be planted to help with the strong winds from the coast, and gave greenery to the town. He also established a Charity Foundation to help poor people in the community. Then he donated land to the town of Necochea to build a town square, a children's home, and a Public Hospital. He also donated towards the building itself.
Jessica: ughh so admirable
Lizi: Yeah Dad Carlos was a good guy. The town really lost a gem when he died.
Norgerie: After Carlos’ passing Mathilde along with her sis continued to build the town. Mathilde believed all Argentinian’s deserved the opportunity to own proper housing so she focused on allocating more space for housing and selling lots to people that wanted to build dwellings. The sisters began promoting it as a seaside town, for people to move and live their best life and also as a place for city dwellers to go on vacation. Allegedly this was something novel at the time, the idea of a seaside retreat in Argentina. The idea was planted by Grandpa Eustoquio and Dad Carlos watered it and then Mathilde and Tita blossomed it, they were able to market and hype up a seaside vacation town, making it one of the oldest vacation spots on Argentina's Atlantic coast.
Jessica: ughh that sounds lovely - I love all of this
Lizi: Amazing.
Norgerie: This put into perspective from me how long urban planning could take. This was three generations in the making. It was privately funded so that may slow or speed things up depending on the family's resources and agenda. But still, Rome wasn't built in a day. Urban Planning takes a long time. You gotta be someone who is into the long game to get into that field.
Jessica: Rome wasn’t built in a day, Argentina and the town of Necochea wasn’t built in a day. From what we learned from our conversation with HUD - when it comes to developments like these a lot of factors are involved which probably drags the process too.
Lizi: For sure. I mean construction in general on one building can take years, so imagine planning out infrastructure at such a large scale, and the approvals, and buy-in from landowners, there’s so many factors you have to consider and make come together which can be a bit of a miraculous thing.
Norgerie: Mathilde’s other project that I want to discuss today is the town of Guernica. It grew from her idea of the great importance of work and access to decent housing.
Jessica: When you said Guernica my first thought was the Picasso painting. But yes I totally agree with this philosophy and it reminds me of another ladies’ philosophy Dorothy Mae Richardson and her efforts to support more homeownership
Lizi: Same! I also thought of that painting haha.
Norgerie: She had land in El Partido de San Vicente that was known as “La Yaya”. On May 18, 1934, she presented to the Ministry of Public Works of the Province of Buenos Aires, a plan to take that land to fund a new town named “Guernica”. Her main major part of that plan was to allocate a lot of lots to be sold for housing.
Jessica: I don’t know why I just assumed that they had land and just built whatever they wanted …and not have to ask for permission lol
Lizi: hahaha you can’t do that today either. What did they say?
Norgerie: They didn’t respond right away. Early the next year she started the urban layout on the land, marking out plots for civic and religious spaces, post office, school, houses, and areas for small farms and orchards. She was thinking about all the necessary components a town would need built in order for its community to grow.
Lizi: Yeah she was. I like that she made sure to think through all the pieces that would be needed.
Jessica: That’s right
Norgerie: With all that work, and solid plan, the powers that be could not say no. Officially, on August 16, 1935, the Provincial Executive Branch approved the project to create the town.
Lizi: THAT’S RIGHT!
Jessica: how could they not
Norgerie: Mathilde donated her land for this to get built. She also planned for a Cultural, Social, and Sports Club of Guernica. She wanted the town to be a community for artists. She also thought about the landscape design and nature, just like her dad did, she hoped for the town to be seen as a garden city.
Jessica: ooh is french Carlos gonna make another appearance???
Lizi: oooo where you at French Carlos?
Norgerie: She dedicated the rest of her life to continue running her family business, supporting social causes of the time, such as The Feminine Association for Rural Action, and she was also very involved in the publishing of Sur Magazine that I mentioned earlier. When the founder of the magazine passed away in 1979 Mathilde kept it going. She did this until she passed away herself June 9, 1986, she was 86 years old.
Jessica: OMG I feel like we were just getting to the good stuff. What a fascinating family and legacy?!
Lizi: Yeah no kidding! I feel like we just got into it. But I really like hearing about all of the things that her family did and how she continued that legacy to better these communities.
Norgerie: Mathilde wrote in her will that her heirs should promote agricultural and livestock education. To that end her heirs began the Díaz Vélez Foundation, dedicated to the promotion of education in the agricultural environment to improve the people’s quality of life and personal development. This foundation is going strong to this day. Its President is Mathilde’s nephew Belisario Alvarez de Toledo. They offer classes, scholarships, it's a big deal. Check out our show notes for a link to their website.
Jessica: oh that’s lovely!
Lizi: Amazing.
Norgerie: If you were wondering what happened to the Díaz Vélez Palace, when Eugenio passed away his family sold the estate to the City of Buenos Aires. Since then it's served as a hospital and headquarters of the Vitra Foundation which deals with housing and labor. There are people petitioning for this building to be included in the National Monuments List so that it receives grants and protections, but as far as I know that hasn't happened yet.
Jessica: Can Non-Argentinians sign this petition? This palace needs to be preserved
Lizi: Yeah, how can we help preserve it? I love that it got donated to the city to be used publicly though. That sounds like exactly the kind of thing Mathilde and her family would have wanted.
Norgerie: Alright, now we have reached the second part of our episode, the Caryatid. A caryatid is a stone carving of a woman, used as a column or a pillar to support the structure of a Greek or Greek-style building. In each episode we choose a “caryatid” -- a woman who is working today, furthering the profession through their work, and who ties into the historical woman of our episode.
Norgerie: Drum roll please… La Fundación Diaz Velez, The Diaz Velez Foundation
Lizi and Jessica: (applause) Yeay!
Norgerie: It felt right and appropriate to shoutout The Carlos Díaz Vélez Foundation today. The Carlos Díaz Vélez Foundation was established in 1990 to honor the testament wishes of Mathilde Díaz Vélez, who so deeply believed in the value of agricultural and livestock education for national growth. So she left three estates—"Patina," "Tita," and "Rincón de Quequén"—in Buenos Aires just for this purpose. The foundation was named after her father, as she would have wanted it and its first Board of Directors was formed, led by Enrique Woodrow Álvarez de Toledo. The Board of Directors also includes Inés Álvarez de Toledo and the attorney María Videla Escalada
Lizi: Love this. It sounds like Mathilde’s efforts are living on and that her relatives are making that happen.
Jessica: It’s our definition of what a caryatid is - that are literally holding Mathilde's legacy
Norgerie: To continue their mission of outreach they offer classes to community members, scholarships for university, and programs for school children in the areas Maria wanted to help people grow.
Jessica: love this - sounds beautiful
Norgerie: If you are in Argentina and interested in these subjects, careers, you should check out our show notes for links to this Foundation so you can learn more about them!
Lizi: Yessss do it!
Jessica: yeah now that the episode is over - go do that, like right now!
Norgerie: Before we say goodbye we want to say thank you to CMYK for the music, John W our technical advisor. And most of all thank you for listening!
Lizi: Remember to check out our show notes for links to all of our resources on this episode as well as pictures of projects we’ve talked about.
Norgerie: We hope you enjoyed learning about today’s lady and caryatid along with our banter, and that you are inspired to find out more about them and other amazing professional ladies. Again, thank you.
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References
colaboradores de Wikipedia. “Guernica (Argentina).” Wikipedia, La Enciclopedia Libre, 2 Apr. 2025, es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_(Argentina).
---. “Palacio Díaz Vélez.” Wikipedia, La Enciclopedia Libre, 18 Jan. 2024, es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palacio_D%C3%ADaz_V%C3%A9lez.
“Educación Rural Y Agropecuaria / Fundación Díaz Vélez.” Fundación Díaz Vélez, www.fundaciondiazvelez.org.ar.
Wikipedia contributors. “Matilde Díaz Vélez.” Wikipedia, 19 Mar. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilde_D%C3%ADaz_V%C3%A9lez.
Zini, Paola. “MATHILDE DIAZ VELEZ 1899-1986.” UN DIA | UNA ARQUITECTA 3, 25 Feb. 2018, undiaunaarquitecta3.wordpress.com/2018/02/24/mathilde-diaz-velez-1899-1986.
Images:
Zini, Paola. “MATHILDE DIAZ VELEZ 1899-1986.” UN DIA | UNA ARQUITECTA 3, 25 Feb. 2018, undiaunaarquitecta3.wordpress.com/2018/02/24/mathilde-diaz-velez-1899-1986.
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