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Edificio sudamericana de vapores (C.S.A.V), ex Grace Line Company

Location: Plaza Sotomayor

The history of its current owner (C.S.A.V) is associated with the history of Valparaiso. This building was inaugurated in December of 1876 and originally belonged to “Casa importadora de maquinarias agrícolas y mineras Rosse-Innes”(a farm and mining machinery import company). Although, everything started in Constitucion, a southern city of Chile, where “Sociedad anónima naviera” was founded and formed in 1876 by Chilean capitalists, who faced a tough competition with the English and American companies. This company was called “Compañía nacional de navegación”, and relocated its headquarters to Valparaiso in 1872 . The original building was redesigned in two opportunities by this company, and after been sold in 1918, they added a discrete, third floor. In the 90’s, the original building was replaced by a new one that only kept its original perimeter walls.

Hotel Reina Victoria

Main article: Hotel Reina Victoria

Location: Plaza Sotomayor

Traditional main building of the area built in 1902 by the architect Esteban O. Harrington, located where the previous “Hotel Inglés”, damaged by a fire in 1897, was reinaugurated and subsequently followed by the Hotel Reina Victoria managed by Francisca Idiondo . At the end of 1930, the hotel was acquired by Domingo Elotegui. An interesting feature is that due to the site’s narrowness, every room is connected by a hallway and faces the Plaza Sotomayor.

Edificio Sotomayor

Location: Plaza Sotomayor

This constructions dates from early XX century. It is part of a valuable contribution to the configuration and image of Plaza Sotomayor. Due to its style, height and shape, it integrates perfectly with other buildings in the area. Under the typology of main building, a traditional type of architecture in Barrio Puerto, illustrates the irregular layout and the small dimension of the solar. It was configured from a three story, small and continuous elevation, which had characteristics associated with a mixture of Neoclassical and Renaissance styles. Harmonious details of those particular styles can be seen in its symmetrical facade and interior planimetry, its openings are framed, its pediments have a triangular shape and the corners are shaped by stonework that imitates brickwork .

Edificio Bustamante

Location: Calle Bustamante esquina Marquez

Year: Late XIX century beginning of the XX century

This building follows the traditional typology used in Valparaiso’s “plan”, which consists of rectangular floors surrounding a courtyard. In terms of its volumetric aspect, the building is made of four plants that hold a compositional harmony, which contributes to its urban presence. Unfortunately the building was severy damaged by a fire on May 16th 2016.

Edificio Aduana

Location: Plaza Aduana

Year: 1844-1855

Some time before Chile's independence, Customs used to be located in Santiago, but after the free trade law promulgation Valparaíso took on new responsibilities with foreign trade. In 1813, it was declared that the revision must be done in Valparaíso before they were sent to Santiago. Since 1822 this institution had occupied several buildings in the current location of the Plaza Sotomayor and Plaza de la Justicia, and between them there are two remarkable palaces that after been abandoned by the Customs were occupied by the executive and judicial branches.The broadening of services and the commerce growth forced a new relocation. Thus, in 1844, the construction of the current building of the Customs administration began, which initially was in charge of the engineer Augusto Charme, but then was concluded by the North American constructor John Brown Diffin, in 1855.

The building is an example of post-colonial architecture and due to its austerity represents the expected public function in the portalian republic. The volume of the building is simple and of harmonious proportions, the composition of its plant as well as that of its facade has a symmetrical form.

Its structure is made of 1.20 m thick plastered brick walls on stone foundations. In its interior, the detailed work of carpentry in the framework of the mezzanine, stairs and roof stands out, particularly in their truss structure and ladder made of larch. This is a typical late American colonial style building.

Plaza Wheelwright

Location: Bajada Carampangue y Avda. Errázuriz

Year: 1848

This was a canyon inhabited by native that were assassinated by the spanish Juan Gómez, who is also believed to have caused a great fire in order to drive them out from their land. The bay of Valparaiso was known as “Alimapu”, which means “burnt land”, supposedly due to that fact. During the colony, across this canyon there was an anchoring ground that was so deep that every ship had to be anchored to the ground to avoid going adrift due to the south wind. Due to the lack of storage in this newborn port, in 1848 engineer Augusto Charme was tasked with the objective of filling these landscapes in order to build fiscal storage. Thanks to this, the landscape for the plaza and harbouring enterprise was made. The material used to fill it was extracted from Cerro Artillería. Since the construction of the Customs in 1851 the plaza has become a lively area for urban activity: Carts and the train to and from Santiago arrived here. The Plaza Wheelwright, also called Plaza Aduana, just a sample of the flourishing economic environment during the 1850 and it was established as the most important customs movement of the country due to the closeness of the fiscal storages, the dock and meeting point of the most important streets of that sector.