a centre of cattle trade that relied on commerce with Chile to becoming a tourism center for the Argentine elite with a cosmopolitan architectural and urban profile. Growth in the city's tourist trade began in the 1930s, when local hotel occupancy grew from 1550 tourists in 1934 to 4000 in 1940. In 1934 Ezequiel Bustillo, then director of the National Parks Direction, contracted his brother Alejandro Bustillo to build several buildings in Iguazú and Nahuel Huapi National Park (Bariloche was the main settlement inside the park). In contrast to subtropical Iguazú National Park, however, temperate Nahuel Huapi National Park was believed to be able to compete with the tourism of Europe and was therefore, along with Bariloche, prioritized by national tourism development planners.
The result of work by Alejandro Bustillo can be seen in the Edificio Movilidad, Plaza Perito Moreno, the neogothic San Carlos de Bariloche Cathedral, and the Llao Llao Hotel. Architect Ernesto de Estrada designed the Civic Centre of Barloche which opened in 1940. The Civic Center's tuff stone, slate and fitzroya structures include the Domingo Sarmiento Library, the Francisco Moreno Museum of Patagonia, a Museum, the City Hall, the Post Office, the Police Station and the Customs.
U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower visited Bariloche as a guest of President Arturo Frondizi in 1960. Classical violinist Alberto Lysy established Camerata Bariloche here in 1967.
Huemul Projects
During the 1950s, on the small island of Huemul, not far into lake Nahuel Huapi, former president Juan Domingo Perón attempted to secretly build the world's first fusion reactor. Even though the project cost the equivalent of about $300 million modern US dollars, it was never finished, due to the lack of the highly advanced technology that was needed. There were also serious problems with the Austrian Ronald Richter in charge of the project, who many accused of being simply crazy
