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My heart sinks when people mention cocktails in Buenos Aires because normally they happen far too late in the evening, and when they actually do serve cocktails I normally stick to beer or wine as they are not very good.

I had read widely on Lord Alain Levenfiche who has invested in a number of landmark properties throughout the world and describes himself as the Luxury Lord.

Alain was born in Paris 57 years ago to aristocratic British family and brought up in North West London where he ran a successful property development and real estate business.

Argentina is no different, and the ‘Luxury Lord’ as he likes to be known has recently acquired two of the most interesting properties in Argentina, the Penthouse, 14^th Floor at the Kavanagh, an historical dwelling in the landmark Kavanagh building and his first project in Argentina’s Pampas, the Polo Estancia Number One on the 875 acre Santa Maria Lobos Polo Club.

Lord Alain states, ‘I am of the opinion, if people are already talking about going to a particular place then it is already too late. The smart money arrives early, before the pack of wolves arrives and split everything up.’

Our cocktail evening with Lord Alain Levenfiche would be interesting and I could not wait to see what two years of renovation had achieved at the Kavanagh’s most famous penthouse.

We arrived at 17h55 and the front of house manager at the Kavanagh building showed us to the lift that would take us to the famous 14th floor at the Kavanagh.

Lord Alain was waiting for us at six a clock (a wonderful hour for cocktails)

The door opened to Alain’s beaming face. He was casually dressed in an open neck shirt hanging out over jeans and cowboy boots. I was a little over dressed. When am I going to stop that?

We shook hands and he welcomed us into his palatial home and ushered us straight to the bar, where he allowed us to sit for moment and take in the sights. The bar is right next to his signature in-house disco complete with a Studio 54 up-lit disco floor and laser beam lights.

My mouth fell open, for how long I am not sure, the apartment had large windows floor to ceiling and doors that opened onto super rooftop gardens offering staggering 360-degree panoramic views of Buenos Aires’ skyline – this was truly wow factor stuff.

I had read lots of press on Lord Alain and his various properties throughout the world; I was prepared to be stunned. The 14 floor penthouse at the Kavanagh is one of the most amazing penthouse apartments I have visited anywhere in the world – simply amazing.

Alain suggested drinks and his butler mixed one hell of a Vodka Martini, and then the man who obviously loves his properties took us on a guided tour. The tour of 14^th floor at the Kavanagh took us over half an hour and another two cocktails.

The Kavanagh Building (Edificio Kavanagh) is located at 1065 Florida Street in the barrio of Retiro, Buenos Aires, Argentina, overlooking Plaza San Martín.

Corina Kavanagh commissioned architects Gregorio Sánchez, Ernesto Lagos and Luis María de la Torre, famed for the Empire State Building, to begin work in the 1934 to construct a Rationalist style building, which they completed in 1936.

In 1999, the Argentines declared the Kavanagh building a national historical monument.

Edificio Kavanagh is still one of the most impressive architectural masterpieces on Buenos Aires’ skyline. Standing at a height of 120 meters, it retains its impact against the modern skyline of the city, even today.

Corina Kavanagh invested all she had inherited in building her own skyscraper. The Kavanagh building has a towering form, with symmetrical setbacks and gradual surface reductions, created from the outside in to offer residents very comfortable dwellings that were the ultimate in modern urban living of their time – built right at the end of Argentina’s belle epoch. A goden peiod in Argentine history.

The structure is designed to be as slender as possible in order to avoid unnecessary weight. The design is a hybrid of Modernism and Art Deco, and also American skyscraper styling with a Rationalistic approach. This is the crème-del-la-crème of Modernism in Argentina.

For many years the highest reinforced concrete structure in the world and the tallest building in South America, the Kavanagh building still arouses equal measures of love and criticism.

The upper middle classes purchased the apartments in the new building. All 105 apartments contained the latest in technology, including central air conditioning, 12 Otis elevators, and state-of-the-art plumbing and heating. The apartments on the upper floors have exquisite terrace gardens with views of the river, parks and the city and we were in the very best of the bunch, how very exciting!

Corina Kavanagh had lived for many years on the 14th floor in the largest apartment, and the only penthouse that occupies an entire floor with private gardens.

This apartment has great history and a bitter urban legend that is just so very Argentine. It tells of Corina’s revenge on the Anchorena family and goes something like this – one of Corina’s daughters fell in love with the son of the Anchorena family, who were both wealthy and aristocratic.

The Anchorena family lived in a palace on the other side of Plaza San Martín (today known as San Martín Palace) and had built a church next to the site of the Kavanagh Building, they disapproved of the engagement to Corina’s daughter who although wealthy in their opinion had no breeding. Corina Kavanagh’s revenge was to build her skyscraper to block the view of the Anchorena’s church. A religious family, their church was important and the view constructed to remind their catholic values.

Just two owners have lived in Corina’s amazing apartment on the 14^th floor of the Kavanagh building, Corina and our host Lord Alain.

The apartment is so very plush, not every ones taste, but obviously designed by a man whose middle names should be ‘comfort, bachelor and fun’.

After a few drinks, the word ‘psychedelic’ and phrase ‘groovy baby’ were both reverberating inside my head. NOT because Lord Alain is anything like Austin Powers – the gigantic opulent apartment screamed at me – ‘humongous shag pad’ – this should not be the domain of an aristocratic lord, but rock stars with their groupies hiding under the beds – five bedrooms to be precise.

I had a wonderful early evening, Lord Alain Levenfiche is great company and the apartment wowed us. I also left with his instructions to open up his exclusive homes in Buenos Aires City and Buenos Aires Province to our guests.

If you would like to rent the 14^th Floor at the Kavanagh Building for vacation, business stopover or a party, the minimum Buenos Aires Stay is three days and we have the keys!