Living Architecture: A Route of Iconic Buildings in Rosales

Context: Rosales as a landmark of Bogotá's modernism

If you walk up the carrera séptima towards the north and turn off at calle 72, the change in scenery is immediate. The exposed brick buildings, the front gardens with pine trees, and the breeze from the Monserrate hill confirm that you have entered Rosales. But this neighborhood was not always like this. Until the mid-20th century, this area was land of haciendas and pastures, a place where Bogotá families had country estates. The city's layout did not reach this far, and people said that "beyond calle 60, the wilderness began".

It was in the 1940s when the Austrian urban planner and architect Karl Brunner, hired by the municipality, laid out the first roads and plots. The idea was to create an upscale residential neighborhood, with wide streets, green areas, and a direct connection to the historic center. But the real boom came in the 50s and 60s, when Bogotá was modernizing at full speed and local architects began experimenting with the language of the modern movement: clean lines, exposed concrete, exposed brick, and large windows that took advantage of the view of the hills.

Rosales thus became an urban laboratory. Here you will not find the colonial facades of La Candelaria nor the glass skyscrapers of Calle 100. What you will find is a collection of buildings that tell the story of a city that wanted to be modern without losing its Andean identity. And it succeeded: Bogotá's architects took Le Corbusier's ideas and adapted them to the cold climate, the gray light of the highlands, and the tradition of Spanish brick. The result is a neighborhood that feels both European and deeply Bogotá.

Today, in August 2026, Rosales remains one of the most sought-after sectors in the city. But its value lies not only in the price per square meter, but in the fact that it is an open-air museum. This route I propose is not for hurried tourists; it is for curious walkers who want to understand why Bogotá's architecture is unique in Latin America.

What to do: the walking route of iconic buildings

I propose a route of approximately 3.5 kilometers, which can be walked in about two and a half hours if you stop to observe each facade calmly. You do not need a guide or prior reservation: all the buildings are visible from the public space, although some have lobbies that will allow you to see the interior discreetly. Wear comfortable shoes, a jacket (in Bogotá the weather changes within minutes), and, if you can, a camera with a wide-angle lens: some facades are more imposing in perspective.

Starting point: Iglesia de la Porciúncula

The route starts at the Iglesia de la Porciúncula, on carrera 7ª with calle 73. This Franciscan church, built between 1926 and 1946, predates the development of the neighborhood and marks the boundary between Chapinero and Rosales. Its neo-Gothic style contrasts with everything you will see next, and that is precisely the idea: from here, you walk towards the architectural future of the city.

The brick and stone facade, with its central tower and colorful stained glass windows, is an unavoidable landmark. Although it is not a modernist building, its presence defines the character of the neighborhood: Rosales is not a place that erased its past, but rather integrated it. If you arrive on a Sunday, you can attend the 10 a.m. mass and hear the organ; if not, the small plaza in front of the church is a good place to get your bearings and see the route map.

Edificio Bavaria (or Edificio de la Cervecería)

Heading down calle 73 towards the east, on the corner with carrera 7ª, you will find the Edificio Bavaria, designed by architect Ernesto Blumenthal and inaugurated in 1964. This 20-story building was the headquarters of Cervecería Bavaria, the most powerful company in the Colombian brewing industry, and for decades it was the tallest in the city. Its concrete and glass tower, with offices clad in copper-colored metal panels, is a classic example of the international style that dominated corporate architecture in the 60s.

The interesting part is not just the facade, but the history. Bavaria commissioned this building as a symbol of its economic power, and for years the brewery's logo crowned the rooftop. Older Bogotá residents remember that, from any point in the center, you could see the illuminated tower at night. Today the building is still in use, although it is no longer the brewery's headquarters. If you like details, observe the top: the concrete slabs form a kind of stepped crown, a nod to pre-Columbian architecture that few notice.

Edificio de Apartamentos El Polo (or "El Polo")

Continuing up carrera 7ª towards the north, on calle 74, is the Edificio El Polo, a gem of Bogotá's rationalism. It was designed by architect Rogelio Salmona in 1959, when he was just starting his career, and it is one of his first works. Unlike the monumental works he would create later (such as the Torres del Parque), here Salmona worked on a smaller scale: a five-story building with duplex apartments, an exposed brick facade, and balconies that project towards the street.

The importance of El Polo lies in its spatial solution. Salmona understood that in a cold climate like Bogotá's, balconies are not for sunbathing but for looking at the street and the hill. That is why he designed them deep, with concrete railings that protect from the wind, and oriented them towards the west to capture the afternoon light. It is a small, almost intimate building, but its facade already shows the obsessions that would mark his entire body of work: brick as a noble material, repetitive geometry, and the relationship between interior and exterior.

Fun fact: Salmona lived in this building for several years, and it is said that from his balcony he observed the changes in the neighborhood while designing his major works. Today El Polo is inhabited by families who value its history, and the facade is kept in excellent condition thanks to the neighborhood's conservation agreements.

Conjunto Residencial El Paraíso

On calle 75 with carrera 2ª, hidden among trees, is the Conjunto Residencial El Paraíso, a complex of three towers designed by architect Guillermo Bermúdez in 1968. This is one of the clearest examples of how modernism adapted to the family life of Bogotá's upper class. The towers, each 12 stories high, are arranged in a U-shape around a central courtyard with gardens, a swimming pool, and play areas. The facade alternates bands of brick and concrete, creating a vertical rhythm that breaks with the horizontality of neighboring buildings.

El Paraíso was a pioneer in its time because it introduced the concept of the "gated community" in Bogotá: a private space with common services, where children could play without going out into the street. Today that idea is common throughout the city, but in the 60s it was revolutionary. If you pass by the entrance, you will notice that the apartments have large windows facing the inner courtyard, not the street: private life unfolds inward, protected from noise and cold.

Torres del Parque

This is the highlight of the route. The Torres del Parque, designed by Rogelio Salmona and inaugurated in 1970, are probably the most important residential complex in 20th-century Colombian architecture. They are located on carrera 5ª with calle 26, right on the edge of Parque Nacional, and although technically they are in the La Macarena neighborhood, their relationship with Rosales is direct: they share the same hill and the same view.

They are three red brick towers, 15 to 20 stories high, that step down following the slope of the terrain. Salmona designed them with complex geometry: the floor plans are not rectangular but curved, creating stepped terraces that face the park and the eastern hills. The brick, laid by hand by Bogotá master builders, has a reddish tone that changes with the daylight: at dawn it looks like copper, at noon it fades, and at dusk it lights up again.

What makes the Torres del Parque unique is their relationship with the landscape. Salmona did not want the apartments to compete with the Monserrate hill; on the contrary, he arranged them so that the terraces and large windows framed the mountain as if it were a painting. Each apartment has at least two orientations, so that the sun always enters from some side. And the interior corridors, which look like brick labyrinths, are designed to protect from the wind and create warm microclimates.

Note for architects: the Torres del Parque were declared a National Monument in 1998, and in 2014 the Fundación Rogelio Salmona initiated a process for them to be recognized by UNESCO. The apartments remain private, but you can walk along the exterior paths and climb up to the central plaza, from where you have one of the best views of the city.

Edificio de la Clínica del Country

To close the tour, it is worth detouring a few blocks north, to the Clínica del Country on calle 82 with carrera 15. It is not a residential building, but its architecture is a testament to the development of Rosales as a service area. The original building, designed by architect Rafael Obregón in 1955, is a three-story structure with a stone facade and aluminum windows, an early example of modern hospital architecture. The clinic has been expanded several times, but the original facade is preserved intact, and its sober style contrasts with the glass buildings that have grown up around it.

If you are interested in the city's medical history, you should know that this clinic is where the first open-heart surgeries in Colombia were performed, in the 60s. Doctors of the time said that the building, with its large windows and natural light, helped patients recover. Today it is a modern hospital, but it retains that air of another era.

Contrast with contemporary architecture

Rosales is not a frozen museum. In the last two decades, the neighborhood has seen the construction of new buildings that coexist with the modernist classics, sometimes with controversial results. The most visible is the Edificio Bacatá (not to be confused with the downtown skyscraper), on carrera 7ª with calle 76, an 18-story luxury apartment tower with a glass and aluminum facade, completed in 2018. Its design is completely opposite to the brick of the 60s buildings: a glass box that reflects the sky and neighboring buildings.

Local architects are divided. Some celebrate that the neighborhood is renewing itself and that new materials and technologies are arriving; others lament that the chromatic harmony of the brick is broken and that glass towers block views of the hills. What is certain is that the tension between old and new is part of the neighborhood's life. If you walk along calle 74, you will see a Salmona building next to a 2021 apartment tower, and the coexistence is not always elegant, but it is honest: Bogotá is a city that transforms itself, and Rosales is the mirror of that transformation.

One recommendation: do not just look at the facades. Many of the new buildings have interesting lobby designs, inner courtyards with vertical gardens, and lobbies with works of ar