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T he tradition of a self-conscious architectural culture, differing from that of the colonial master builders and more clearly attached to the concept of professional practice, goes back, in Chile, to the late eighteenth century.1 It is connected with the presence and work of Joaquín Toesca in Chile over two decades.2 Born and educated in Italy, Toesca practiced in Spain as a collaborator of Francesco Sabatini. In 1780 Toesca arrived in Chile to take charge of the most significant constructions of the period. These included the coinage factory (La Moneda, now the Presidential Palace), the Mapocho river dikes, or tajamares, and the finishing of the new cathedral, begun by Vázquez de Acuña thirty years earlier. Toesca was responsible for the introduction of new and technically more sophisticated uses of brick masonry, and of a soberly simplified classical language employed in a manner that recalls some of the seriated procedures of the Baroque. The influence of some of Toesca’s disciples—for example, Goycolea— dominated architectural practice at the beginning of the nineteenth century, prolonging the dominance of that tradition for some years after the country had become independent from Spain. Not until the mid-nineteenth century was a new architectural manner, along with a new aesthetic sensitivity, introduced into the country. The change was wrought by the French architect Claude François Brunet de Baines, who in 1848 was appointed architect to the government by President Manuel Bulnes. Brunet had been educated in France, and he arrived in Chile at a moment of particular cultural flourishing. This was due to the presence of a group of distinguished immigrants, including a Venezuelan, Andres Bello, and two Argentinians, Bartolomé Mitre and Domingo Faustino Sarmiento. Brunet’s responsibilities included the design of institutional buildings commissioned by the government, as well as the education of a new generation of Chilean architects. A professional architectural course was therefore established and briefly directed by Brunet himself, until his death in 1855. This efFernAndo Pérez oyArzun. rodrigo Pérez de Arce, And horAcio torrent introduction the฀cultural฀and฀professional฀ background฀of฀modern฀architecture฀ in฀chile x Introduction fort gave birth to the publication of an academic textbook on architecture , very probably one of the earliest in Latin America.3 His fellow countryman, Lucien Henault, was subsequently appointed to continue Brunet’s architectural as well as educational tasks, a role he continued to fill from 1857 to 1872.4 Both Brunet and Henault brought to Chile a more explicitly Beaux Arts architectural language, whichhadtobeadaptedtolocalcircumstances,asitinvolvedchanges in both complexity and scale. The results of this early French connection can be easily recognized in buildings such as the Municipal Theater, as well as the Parliament Building and University of Chile buildings, all of which were erected in the second half of the nineteenth century. Private buildings and residences, such as the Palacio Pereira, were built using similar aesthetic criteria. Very few Chilean architects were educated under Brunet or Henault; among them were Aldunate and Vivaceta. During this period some Chileans were sent to study architecture abroad, a tradition that lasted until the beginning of the twentieth century.5 In this way, qualified architects continued to be brought to Santiago and other cities. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, other foreign architects arrived in Chile. Some of them came from France, such as Paul Lathoud, Emile Doyere, or Emile Jequier; others from Italy, such as Chelli, Provasoli, Brugnoli, and Cremonesi. Those of other nations included a German, Burchard, and the Spaniard, Forteza. Some were employed by the government, while others established themselves in private practice . They brought to Chile new forms and new technological methods , which were embodied in numerous institutional and private buildings, from schools to residences, and from churches to tombs. As a result, Chile came to possess one of the most interesting and complex architectures in nineteenth-century Latin America. The buildings erected on the occasion of the centennial celebration of independence, around 1910, represent the culmination of a cultivated style of architecture that was often inspired by European models. A century of political independence from Spain, and the increasing consciousness of a national identity, created in Santiago an architecture of monumental scale and effect. Buildings such as the Mapocho Railway station and the new Fine Arts Museum—site of the centennial art exhibition—both designed by Jequier, are representative of this attempt to re-create the quality associated with a European capital. Memorable public spaces, such as the Parque...

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