La Casa de los Diez

Hi, I want to tell you about a building that I like, more precisely, a building that I love… It is “La Casa de los Diez” in Santiago’s downtown. It is located at Santa Rosa Avenue and Tarapacá Street.

In the past it was used by Chilean artists as their “friendship house”; they met there for social gathering, they also discussed and created art and conformed a new and own Chilean art that according to them didn’t exist until that moment, it was just a copy from European art. This crew was form by over ten chilean painters, writers, musicians, architects, journalists, etc. like  Pedro Prado and Augusto D’Halmar. Aldo the mansion date back to 1850, they modificated to the actual state after 1900.

I don’t think that people know about the house history, it was declared as a national monument by Chilean State but it isn’t open to visit. As you walk around there you can see the contrast that it cause against the other buildings that are for residential use. I think their very ugly hahah.

I like the building because of what it represents, when I walk over there I imagine all the great things that the distinguished people who lived there made, how they symbolize the beginning of actual Chilean art, non an imitation of foreign one.