The Conjunto Virginia Opazo is an architectural ensemble designed by

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Luciano Kulczewski Luciano Kulczewski (Luciano Kulczewski García) (8 January 1896 Temuco, Chile – 19 September 1972 Santiago) was a Chilean architect of the 20th century. Family Kulczewski was born to a family of Polish descent. His grand grandfather, Maciej ...

, which is located in the Barrio República, in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, who ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

. It consists of 33 two-story

terraced houses In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

. The residential subdivision was inaugurated in 1944, and was declared as a

National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

of Chile on November 10, 1992, within the category of Zona Típica (Heritage District).

History

The houses were built on the former site of the Quinta Meiggs Palace. That land was originally owned by American businessman

Henry Meiggs Henry Meiggs (July 7, 1811 – September 30, 1877), was a promotor/entrepreneur and railroad builder born in Boston, Massachusetts Business career Lumber Meiggs came to New York City in 1835 and began a lumber business that was ruined by the P ...

, which was divided into lots in 1872 to create the Barrio República, with new streets extending south from ''

Alameda An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada *Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan **Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santiago ...

'' to the Club Hípico. In 1944 the

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

Octavio Soto, at that time a student of the War Academy — which was located at the intersection of the ''Alameda'' and España Avenue—, asked the

Chilean Army The Chilean Army ( es, Ejército de Chile) is the land arm of the Military of Chile. This 80,000-person army (9,200 of which are conscripts) is organized into six divisions, a special operations brigade and an air brigade. In recent years, and a ...

for a loan to buy a parcel of land, which was a part of the old Quinta Meiggs site, to build houses for him and his classmates. Designed by

, it was inaugurated by the then

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Juan Antonio Ríos Juan Antonio Ríos Morales (; November 10, 1888 – June 27, 1946) was a Chilean political figure who served as president of Chile from 1942 to 1946, during the height of World War II. He died in office. Early life Ríos was born at the ''Hu ...

in 1944. The residents requested that the name of the access street was Octavio Soto, but the rules of the municipality of Santiago required that the name had to be of a deceased person, which led to choice the name of the mother of the colonel, which was Virginia Opazo.

Description

The residential subdivision is roughly bounded by the ''Alameda'', España Avenue, Salvador Sanfuentes Street and República Avenue. The houses are set along Virginia Opazo Street, which is divided by a city block containing some of the houses. The 33 houses have similar facades and were built in the Neoclassical style and painted white, featuring a backyard and a small fenced front garden. Other two residential subdivisions designed by Kulczewski have been declared Zona Típica. These are the Población Los Castaños (1930), in Independencia, and the Keller Street (1925), in Providencia, both located in the city of Santiago.

References

{{coord, -33.4493, -70.6691, type:landmark_region:CL, display=title Buildings and structures in Santiago