Villa Ocampo is the manor house of the wealthy Ocampo family in Buenos Aires, near the river, completed in 1821. It houses a circle of intellectuals, a library and a printing press, and is suspected of hosting esoteric rites.
| Type | Place (private residence) |
| Location | Buenos Aires, near the river |
| Built | 1821 (99 years old in 1920) |
| Spanish entry | Villa Ocampo |
Description
The house is private property; the family, not an institution, controls the door. It “is a place we can go and visit”, but whoever arrives uninvited “meets a hard reception”.
- Upper floors: salons where a group of intellectuals meets, and a “spectacular” library.
- Lower floor: a bookbinding workshop and a printing press—“Ocampo had the press down there, the things are still there”. The machinery was never removed.
- “Amazonian lodges” (logias amazónicas): they “have many rooms that communicate with this place”, a chain of connected rooms allowing movement without returning to the entrance.
A magazine has already started, though no record names it; the house provides its material infrastructure.
People
- Victoria Ocampo, lady of the house. She held a birthday there attended by Alejandro Lindberg. In 1920 she “has had to leave the city and will not return for a while”, and the house’s affairs passed to an intermediary.
- Silvio Ocampo, a member of the family.
- Víctor Ocampo, author of a book. According to it, the house has servants of enslaved African origin, “who already came from the family”, raised there, who kept their own culture and knowledge.
- Victorio Ocampo, a man of power in Buenos Aires, credited with organizing esoteric ceremonies and rites for select guests. Those who looked into it took it as known: “there were certain rituals there”. Questioned about it, Baltazar neither confirmed nor denied. The rituals are a belief of those who went to the house, not an established fact.
It was stated expressly that “Borges is not Victorio Ocampo”: Jorge Luis Borges is another person. The house mattered in the affairs then under investigation: “those of Villa Ocampo were involved”.
The family also owns a second, seasonal house in Mar del Plata.
Conflicting accounts
- The records attribute rites to Victorio Ocampo and ownership of the house to Victoria Ocampo. Whether they are one person misheard or two members of the family is disputed.
Open questions
- The magazine is not named.
- What the “Amazonian lodges” are (salons, decoration, sections or groups), and where they lie relative to the library, is not recorded.
- Façade, materials, size, number of floors and neighborhood are not recorded.
- Why Victoria left, where she went, for how long, and who decides on visitors meanwhile are unknown.