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Portal Fernández Concha

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Coordinates: 33°26′18.7″S 70°39′01.24″W / 33.438528°S 70.6503444°W / -33.438528; -70.6503444
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Portal Fernández Concha
Map
General information
Architectural styleNeoclassical
LocationPlaza de Armas, Santiago, Chile
Coordinates33°26′18.7″S 70°39′01.24″W / 33.438528°S 70.6503444°W / -33.438528; -70.6503444
Completed1871
Renovated1928
Technical details
Floor count7 (after renovation)
Design and construction
Architect(s)W. Hovender Hendry, Lucien Hénault; Josué Smith Solar, José Smith Miller (renovation)
DesignationsNational Monument of Chile

Portal Fernández Concha is a historic mixed-use building in Santiago, Chile. Built in 1871 as a commercial building including a hotel, it forms the south side of the central Plaza de Armas. It was registered on 3 December 1986 as a national monument as part of the zona típica consisting of the square, the former National Congress building and nearby buildings.[1][2]

Building

The Portal Fernández Concha is a seven-storey Neoclassical building with a ground floor arcaded housing shops and restaurants. It forms the south side of the Plaza de Armas; the Portal Bulnes, on the east side, is also a commercial building.[2]

History

The building was erected in 1871 as a replacement for the Portal Sierra Bella, which had been destroyed by fire. The brothers Pedro and Domingo Fernández Concha provided part of the financing.[3] The design, by the British architect W. Hovender Hendry, was Beaux Arts, reminiscent of buildings in Paris and London; a shopping arcade that runs through the ground floor, the Pasaje Matte, is by the French architect Lucien Hénault.[3][4][Note 1]

In its original form, the Portal Fernández Concha had four storeys and two turrets. A hotel was located on the first floor: at opening, the Hotel Santiago, which became the Gran Hotel Inglés in 1884 and the Gran Hotel de Francia in 1900. In 1919 the hotel was again renamed to the Hotel Plaza, and the Hotel Milán opened separately in part of the premises.[3] The Pasaje Matte, whose shops were originally almost entirely French, and the adjacent Pasaje Bulnes were among the most fashionable retail centres in 19th-century Santiago. Electric lighting was installed in the building in 1882,[5] one of the first installations in the city.[6]

In 1928 the building was extensively remodelled by the Chilean architects Josué Smith Solar and his son José Smith Miller. Its height was increased to seven storeys plus an attic,[3] and the façade was simplified. Art Deco elements were added to the interior.[7] A statue of the Virgin Mary by Domingo García Huidobro was placed at the top centre of the façade.[3]

Starting in the 1940s, the upper floors were subdivided into both residential and commercial spaces, and the building acquired a reputation first for Bohemianism and later for illegal enterprises.[7][8] In 2023 the National Congress passed a motion calling for the expropriation of the Portal Fernández Concha as a public nuisance.[9] Radio del Pacífico, renamed in 1938 from Radio La Chilena Consolidada, operated from the building for more than thirty years.[6][10] The contemporary art gallery Espacio218 opened in 2022 in an apartment in the building.[11] The ground floor remains commercial, but the original restaurants serving European cuisine have given way to fast food.[6] One restaurant, Chez Henry, operated there from 1925 until its closure in 2003.[12]

Portal Sierra Bella 1685-1869

Portal Sierra Bella 1860

The Portal Fernandez Concha replaced the old portal that once stood on this site, built by the Counts of Sierra Bella between 1685 and 1690[13]. Initially, the old portal did not cover the entire front of the square, leaving a private house isolated in the center. This house was acquired by General Don Manuel Bulnes when he planned to build his portal in the center of that block, to provide an exit to the square.[14] Through a subsequent agreement, the two sections of the portal were joined, resulting in a large two-story gallery, with the ground floor occupied by shops on the inside and by small stalls or bargain shops on the outside, tiny wooden shacks attached to the columns of the arcade[15]. This building suffered two major fires: the first destroyed its entire eastern half, and the second, which occurred in 1869, completely destroyed it[16].


Original Portal Fernandez Concha 1869-1928

Portal Fernández Concha and the Plaza de Armas in 1872
Portal Fernández Concha and the Plaza de Armas in 1911

After the fire affecting the Portal Sierra Bella, the land was purchased by the banker Don Domingo Fernández Concha, who erected the foundations of the building that stands today[17]. This building was a spacious gallery with eighteen arches, above which rose a large two-story structure, and beneath it were vast cellars, making it effectively four stories high[18]. The depth was limited, barely extending a quarter of a block, but the facade, in contrast, was relatively immense[19]. Above the fourth floor, in the center and at both ends, rose three small structures resembling turrets or observatories, adding a picturesque aspect[20]. The pilasters of the second and fourth floors were flat, but the third-floor windows were set between a series of round columns made of lime and brick[21]. The first and second floors were exclusively for shops and bargain stalls that also clung to the pilasters; the third and fourth floors were occupied by the Santiago hotel, the most prominent of its kind in Chile and even in South America.[22]

Commercial Stock Exchange 1870

In 1870, the foundation was laid for the Chilean Stock Exchange, which was established on the second floor of the Portal Fernández Concha. The Exchange was created with the objective of streamlining commercial transactions, as well as providing a facility for reading and archiving valuable commercial information for the public[23]. To finance its operations, shares were issued at a value of 50 pesos each. Shareholder members were obligated to pay an annual fee of 20 pesos, whereas subscribers faced a fee of 30 pesos[24], with no limit set on the number of subscribers. The governance of the Exchange was vested in a Council, composed of five shareholder members who were elected during the annual general meeting. The daily task of noting transactions on the board and making necessary updates to these records was exclusively assigned to the superintendent or their assistant, ensuring the smooth operation of the Exchange[25].

References in Popular Culture

  1. Scene in "The Prodigal Women: A Novel" Chapter XV, by Nancy Hale, First published January 1, 1942[26]
  2. Completos Restaurant in "Me and food: A journey through our Chilean and migrant cuisines" by Natalia Quezada, Fito Holloway, Gabriela Precht, La Bonita Ediciones, 14 sept 2022[27]

Notes

  1. ^ Bastoen credits the entire building to Hénault, with Hendry as constructing architect.

References

  1. ^ "Con declaración: Santiago". Patrimonio Urbano (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 5 November 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Plaza de Armas, Congreso Nacional y su Entorno". Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 5 November 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Santiago, Plaza de Armas : [Portal Fernández Concha (antes, Portal Sierra Bella)". Biblioteca Nacional Digital (Archive photo) (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  4. ^ Julien Bastoen (2022). "Catedrales del comercio: la difusión internacional de los grandes almacenes parisinos". In Fernando Aliata; Eduardo Gentile (eds.). El modelo beaux-arts y la arquitectura en América Latina, 1870-1930. Transferencias, intercambios y perspectivas transnacionales (PDF) (in Spanish). La Plata: Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo, Universidad Nacional La Plata. p. 231. ISBN 978-950-34-2114-7.
  5. ^ Alfonso Calderón (1984). Memorial del viejo Santiago (in Spanish). Santiago: Editorial Andrés Bello. pp. 59–60. OCLC 11368565.
  6. ^ a b c "Portal Fernández Concha, de hotel de lujo a paseo". La Nacion (Blog/Opinion) (in Spanish). 27 April 2009. Archived from the original on 29 August 2014.
  7. ^ a b Carolina Briones; José Pablo Guzmán (29 November 2018). "Memorias y Prejuicios del Portal Fernández Concha". Santiago Adicto (With interior photos) (in Spanish) – via landie.cl.
  8. ^ "Portal Fernández Concha, vivir entre delincuencia y prostitución". T13 (video, 9 mins 20 secs) (in Spanish). Santiago: Canal 13. 8 March 2023.
  9. ^ Karin Schlegel (4 May 2023). "Piden recuperar el edificio patrimonial Portal Fernández Concha". Cámara de Diputados (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  10. ^ "Breve historia de la radio en Chile". Huellas.cl (in Spanish). 2020.
  11. ^ "Espacio218: la plataforma que busca difundir el arte contemporáneo llega al centro de Santiago". Radio Universidad de Chile. 25 April 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  12. ^ "Remate puso fin a 78 años de historia del Chez Henry". La Cuarta (in Spanish). 26 March 2003. Archived from the original on 6 December 2013.
  13. ^ Rosenblitt Berdichesky, Jaime; Sanhueza B., Carolina; Sagredo Baeza, Rafael, eds. (2010). Cartografía histórica de Chile 1778-1929. Biblioteca fundamentos de la construcción de Chile. Santiago, Chile: Cámara Chilena de la Construcción, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Dirección de Bibliotecas Archivos y Museos. ISBN 978-956-8306-08-3.
  14. ^ Rosenblitt Berdichesky, Jaime; Sanhueza B., Carolina; Sagredo Baeza, Rafael, eds. (2010). Cartografía histórica de Chile 1778-1929. Biblioteca fundamentos de la construcción de Chile. Santiago, Chile: Cámara Chilena de la Construcción, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Dirección de Bibliotecas Archivos y Museos. ISBN 978-956-8306-08-3.
  15. ^ Rosenblitt Berdichesky, Jaime; Sanhueza B., Carolina; Sagredo Baeza, Rafael, eds. (2010). Cartografía histórica de Chile 1778-1929. Biblioteca fundamentos de la construcción de Chile. Santiago, Chile: Cámara Chilena de la Construcción, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Dirección de Bibliotecas Archivos y Museos. ISBN 978-956-8306-08-3.
  16. ^ Rosenblitt Berdichesky, Jaime; Sanhueza B., Carolina; Sagredo Baeza, Rafael, eds. (2010). Cartografía histórica de Chile 1778-1929. Biblioteca fundamentos de la construcción de Chile. Santiago, Chile: Cámara Chilena de la Construcción, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Dirección de Bibliotecas Archivos y Museos. ISBN 978-956-8306-08-3.
  17. ^ Rosenblitt Berdichesky, Jaime; Sanhueza B., Carolina; Sagredo Baeza, Rafael, eds. (2010). Cartografía histórica de Chile 1778-1929. Biblioteca fundamentos de la construcción de Chile. Santiago, Chile: Cámara Chilena de la Construcción, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Dirección de Bibliotecas Archivos y Museos. ISBN 978-956-8306-08-3.
  18. ^ Rosenblitt Berdichesky, Jaime; Sanhueza B., Carolina; Sagredo Baeza, Rafael, eds. (2010). Cartografía histórica de Chile 1778-1929. Biblioteca fundamentos de la construcción de Chile. Santiago, Chile: Cámara Chilena de la Construcción, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Dirección de Bibliotecas Archivos y Museos. ISBN 978-956-8306-08-3.
  19. ^ Rosenblitt Berdichesky, Jaime; Sanhueza B., Carolina; Sagredo Baeza, Rafael, eds. (2010). Cartografía histórica de Chile 1778-1929. Biblioteca fundamentos de la construcción de Chile. Santiago, Chile: Cámara Chilena de la Construcción, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Dirección de Bibliotecas Archivos y Museos. ISBN 978-956-8306-08-3.
  20. ^ Rosenblitt Berdichesky, Jaime; Sanhueza B., Carolina; Sagredo Baeza, Rafael, eds. (2010). Cartografía histórica de Chile 1778-1929. Biblioteca fundamentos de la construcción de Chile. Santiago, Chile: Cámara Chilena de la Construcción, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Dirección de Bibliotecas Archivos y Museos. ISBN 978-956-8306-08-3.
  21. ^ Rosenblitt Berdichesky, Jaime; Sanhueza B., Carolina; Sagredo Baeza, Rafael, eds. (2010). Cartografía histórica de Chile 1778-1929. Biblioteca fundamentos de la construcción de Chile. Santiago, Chile: Cámara Chilena de la Construcción, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Dirección de Bibliotecas Archivos y Museos. ISBN 978-956-8306-08-3.
  22. ^ Rosenblitt Berdichesky, Jaime; Sanhueza B., Carolina; Sagredo Baeza, Rafael, eds. (2010). Cartografía histórica de Chile 1778-1929. Biblioteca fundamentos de la construcción de Chile. Santiago, Chile: Cámara Chilena de la Construcción, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Dirección de Bibliotecas Archivos y Museos. ISBN 978-956-8306-08-3.
  23. ^ Rosenblitt Berdichesky, Jaime; Sanhueza B., Carolina; Sagredo Baeza, Rafael, eds. (2010). Cartografía histórica de Chile 1778-1929. Biblioteca fundamentos de la construcción de Chile. Santiago, Chile: Cámara Chilena de la Construcción, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Dirección de Bibliotecas Archivos y Museos. ISBN 978-956-8306-08-3.
  24. ^ Rosenblitt Berdichesky, Jaime; Sanhueza B., Carolina; Sagredo Baeza, Rafael, eds. (2010). Cartografía histórica de Chile 1778-1929. Biblioteca fundamentos de la construcción de Chile. Santiago, Chile: Cámara Chilena de la Construcción, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Dirección de Bibliotecas Archivos y Museos. ISBN 978-956-8306-08-3.
  25. ^ Rosenblitt Berdichesky, Jaime; Sanhueza B., Carolina; Sagredo Baeza, Rafael, eds. (2010). Cartografía histórica de Chile 1778-1929. Biblioteca fundamentos de la construcción de Chile. Santiago, Chile: Cámara Chilena de la Construcción, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Dirección de Bibliotecas Archivos y Museos. ISBN 978-956-8306-08-3.
  26. ^ Hale, Nancy (January 1, 1942). The Prodigal Women. C. Scribner's Sons. pp. Chapter XV. ISBN 9781598537482.
  27. ^ Quezada, Natalia (2022-09-14). Yo y la alimentación: Un viaje por nuestras cocinas chilenas y migrantes [Me and food: A journey through our Chilean and migrant cuisines 'Spanish'] (1st ed.). La Bonita Ediciones. p. 37. ISBN 9789569844546.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portal_Fernández_Concha&oldid=1208694454"