Diego Portales Building / Villavicencio Tower

After the bombing and fire of the Palacio de la Moneda, as a result of the coup d'état of September 11, 1973, the building became the headquarters of the government. Decree Law No. 190 of December 10 of that year changed the name of the complex to “Diego Portales Building.” From 1973 to 1981, the Executive Branch (under the administration of Augusto Pinochet) and the Legislative Branch (made up of the Government Board "Junta de Gobierno de Chile (1973)") functioned there.[21] Other public organizations were also based there, such as the General Secretariat of Government, the Military House, the Ministry of the Interior, the National Commission for Administrative Reform (Conara) and the Division of Social Communication. (Dinacos). Various studies have confirmed that during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, it was a headquarters and torture center for important or classified political prisoners, the most recognized being an 11-year-old boy, who was never identified, only his charred remains with five rifle wounds were found. Various visitors claim to have seen him hanging around the facilities, most frequently in the parking lots of the main building. Popular culture has baptized him as "The Little Angel".[22]​.

On March 11, 1981, when the presidential offices returned to La Moneda, the tower continued to be the headquarters of the Legislative Power, exercised by the Government Board, until the return to democracy "Transition to democracy (Chile)") in 1990.

During the first three Concertación governments (1990-2006), the plaque was used as a center for public and private conferences and conventions, and the tower was the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense; Most of its departments were moved to the Civic District in 2007, but the 23 floors of the skyscraper—364 Villavicencio Street—remained in the hands of the Ministry, which was preparing to abandon it definitively at the end of 2014;[23]​ However, this took place with a delay of two years, at the beginning of 2017.[4]

In addition, during the elections it housed the computing center of the Ministry of the Interior. For the primary elections of June 30, 2013, the building was once again the Press Center, but this time in charge of the Electoral Service, which was installed in the Library of the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center.[24]​.

Defensa continued to occupy the Villavicencio tower until 2016 and in January of the following year it finally transferred the building to National Assets. The minister of the sector, Nivia Palma, announced that it would become a space open to cultural and social organizations;[4]​ in April, Palma reported that the decision to grant a complete floor free of charge to the Víctor Jara Foundation in the building, which should be operational in the second half of 2017. Other organizations that expected free concessions in this Citizenship Building were the Chilean Human Rights Commission, the Villa Grimaldi Corporation, the Venda Sexy, the Corporación Humanas, the Corporación del Transplante and the Transplantado, the Children's Council or the Corporación Letras de Chile, in addition to possible spaces for residencies for artists from regions who carry out internships at the GAM.[25]​[26]​ However, a technical report from the Ministry of Public Works "Ministerio de Obras Públicas (Chile)") declared the tower uninhabitable, and in 2018 the minister of National Assets Felipe Ward reported that an eventual normalization of the complete structure would take between three or four years and close to $19,750 million.[27]​.

At 4:45 p.m. on March 5, 2006, a violent fire broke out, originating in the east wing of the convention center, which destroyed 40% of its structure. The plenary hall was completely destroyed, the white and blue hall were damaged by 25%. In addition, it caused the collapse due to the melting of the metal structure of the roof, half an hour after the fire broke out.[28] The fire mobilized 28 units of the Santiago Fire Department and kept the Alameda closed from Plaza Baquedano to Cerro Santa Lucía, in addition to suspending metro service at the Universidad Católica station "Universidad Católica (station)"), located under the building. The column of toxic smoke generated was visible from several points, while it was moved by the winds towards the eastern sector of Santiago. Finally, the fire was controlled after an hour of work.

The official report, delivered by the Santiago Fire Department, stated that the fire would have originated from an overheating in the electrical network, which was without maintenance, as a result of renovations that were being carried out in the underground on the eastern side. The Roberto Matta painting that adorned the interior was not damaged.

Reconstruction and birth of the new cultural center

Once the fire was extinguished, the debris was removed. President Michelle Bachelet ordered the creation of a Committee of Ministers for the Reconversion of the Diego Portales Building, made up of the heads of the Defense, Housing, National Assets and Culture portfolios, in order to decide the fate of the property.[29] A public proposal was called and on December 15, 2007, twenty-one months after the fire, it was announced that the project by architect Cristián Fernández in conjunction with the Lateral office had won. Architects.[30]​.

The GAM takes advantage of the infrastructure of the former Convention Center reinterpreted by the architects.[2] Fernández proposed keeping the building open in its reconstructed part, in order to allow the flow of people circulating through the sector, which would imply the sectorization of the property into three parts, in addition to renaming it Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral, which was finalized on October 19, 2009.[31]​ The building From now on it would be an autonomous organization, with a performance hall for two thousand five hundred people, a room dedicated exclusively to dance, a performing arts archive and an audio library associated with a library, in addition to an exhibition hall of the Museum of American Popular Art of the University of Chile.[5]​[32]​ The inauguration of the first stage of the center took place on September 4, 2010, two weeks before the celebration of the Bicentennial of the Republic.[33]​.

It acquired its current name on October 19, 2009, when President Michelle Bachelet promulgated Law 20386, published on October 27 of that year, which established that it be named after the Chilean Nobel Prize winner "with the purpose of perpetuating her memory and honoring her name and her contribution to the formation of the cultural heritage of Chile and Latin American literature."[34]

As a cultural center, it was inaugurated on December 4, 2010 and in its first two years of operation it was visited by one million one hundred thousand people.[35]​.

The first executive director of the GAM was Alejandra Wood,[35] until she resigned on September 30, 2015. A week later the board met to define the transition period and appointed Cristián Uribe (who has worked at the GAM since its creation as legal advisor and secretary of the board) as deputy in the position, until the new executive was elected, for which an open call was called.[36] On January 25, 2016 Felipe Mella was elected to the position, which he will hold for four years starting March 1. Experienced cultural manager, for the last 8 years he was in charge of the Santiago gallery Balmaceda Arte Joven.[37]​.

Until 2022 it hosted the Fury of the Book[38]​ and since 2024 it has hosted the International Contemporary Art Fair of Chile "Chaco (art fair)").[39]​.

Extension

In 2015, construction began on the expansion of the cultural center, which was intended to be inaugurated in 2017. Various difficulties, such as the flooding due to the overflowing of the Mapocho River in 2016, and the bankruptcy of the construction company, led to the works being paralyzed in 2018. Final work is expected to begin in 2021, to be ready in the first half of 2024.[40]​

Due to new postponements, the project was reactivated in 2024 under the Boric government, and the works are expected to be completed in 2028.[41]​.

Diego Portales Building / Villavicencio Tower

After the bombing and fire of the Palacio de la Moneda, as a result of the coup d'état of September 11, 1973, the building became the headquarters of the government. Decree Law No. 190 of December 10 of that year changed the name of the complex to “Diego Portales Building.” From 1973 to 1981, the Executive Branch (under the administration of Augusto Pinochet) and the Legislative Branch (made up of the Government Board "Junta de Gobierno de Chile (1973)") functioned there.[21] Other public organizations were also based there, such as the General Secretariat of Government, the Military House, the Ministry of the Interior, the National Commission for Administrative Reform (Conara) and the Division of Social Communication. (Dinacos). Various studies have confirmed that during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, it was a headquarters and torture center for important or classified political prisoners, the most recognized being an 11-year-old boy, who was never identified, only his charred remains with five rifle wounds were found. Various visitors claim to have seen him hanging around the facilities, most frequently in the parking lots of the main building. Popular culture has baptized him as "The Little Angel".[22]​.

On March 11, 1981, when the presidential offices returned to La Moneda, the tower continued to be the headquarters of the Legislative Power, exercised by the Government Board, until the return to democracy "Transition to democracy (Chile)") in 1990.

During the first three Concertación governments (1990-2006), the plaque was used as a center for public and private conferences and conventions, and the tower was the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense; Most of its departments were moved to the Civic District in 2007, but the 23 floors of the skyscraper—364 Villavicencio Street—remained in the hands of the Ministry, which was preparing to abandon it definitively at the end of 2014;[23]​ However, this took place with a delay of two years, at the beginning of 2017.[4]

In addition, during the elections it housed the computing center of the Ministry of the Interior. For the primary elections of June 30, 2013, the building was once again the Press Center, but this time in charge of the Electoral Service, which was installed in the Library of the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center.[24]​.

Defensa continued to occupy the Villavicencio tower until 2016 and in January of the following year it finally transferred the building to National Assets. The minister of the sector, Nivia Palma, announced that it would become a space open to cultural and social organizations;[4]​ in April, Palma reported that the decision to grant a complete floor free of charge to the Víctor Jara Foundation in the building, which should be operational in the second half of 2017. Other organizations that expected free concessions in this Citizenship Building were the Chilean Human Rights Commission, the Villa Grimaldi Corporation, the Venda Sexy, the Corporación Humanas, the Corporación del Transplante and the Transplantado, the Children's Council or the Corporación Letras de Chile, in addition to possible spaces for residencies for artists from regions who carry out internships at the GAM.[25]​[26]​ However, a technical report from the Ministry of Public Works "Ministerio de Obras Públicas (Chile)") declared the tower uninhabitable, and in 2018 the minister of National Assets Felipe Ward reported that an eventual normalization of the complete structure would take between three or four years and close to $19,750 million.[27]​.

At 4:45 p.m. on March 5, 2006, a violent fire broke out, originating in the east wing of the convention center, which destroyed 40% of its structure. The plenary hall was completely destroyed, the white and blue hall were damaged by 25%. In addition, it caused the collapse due to the melting of the metal structure of the roof, half an hour after the fire broke out.[28] The fire mobilized 28 units of the Santiago Fire Department and kept the Alameda closed from Plaza Baquedano to Cerro Santa Lucía, in addition to suspending metro service at the Universidad Católica station "Universidad Católica (station)"), located under the building. The column of toxic smoke generated was visible from several points, while it was moved by the winds towards the eastern sector of Santiago. Finally, the fire was controlled after an hour of work.

The official report, delivered by the Santiago Fire Department, stated that the fire would have originated from an overheating in the electrical network, which was without maintenance, as a result of renovations that were being carried out in the underground on the eastern side. The Roberto Matta painting that adorned the interior was not damaged.

Reconstruction and birth of the new cultural center

Once the fire was extinguished, the debris was removed. President Michelle Bachelet ordered the creation of a Committee of Ministers for the Reconversion of the Diego Portales Building, made up of the heads of the Defense, Housing, National Assets and Culture portfolios, in order to decide the fate of the property.[29] A public proposal was called and on December 15, 2007, twenty-one months after the fire, it was announced that the project by architect Cristián Fernández in conjunction with the Lateral office had won. Architects.[30]​.

The GAM takes advantage of the infrastructure of the former Convention Center reinterpreted by the architects.[2] Fernández proposed keeping the building open in its reconstructed part, in order to allow the flow of people circulating through the sector, which would imply the sectorization of the property into three parts, in addition to renaming it Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral, which was finalized on October 19, 2009.[31]​ The building From now on it would be an autonomous organization, with a performance hall for two thousand five hundred people, a room dedicated exclusively to dance, a performing arts archive and an audio library associated with a library, in addition to an exhibition hall of the Museum of American Popular Art of the University of Chile.[5]​[32]​ The inauguration of the first stage of the center took place on September 4, 2010, two weeks before the celebration of the Bicentennial of the Republic.[33]​.

It acquired its current name on October 19, 2009, when President Michelle Bachelet promulgated Law 20386, published on October 27 of that year, which established that it be named after the Chilean Nobel Prize winner "with the purpose of perpetuating her memory and honoring her name and her contribution to the formation of the cultural heritage of Chile and Latin American literature."[34]

As a cultural center, it was inaugurated on December 4, 2010 and in its first two years of operation it was visited by one million one hundred thousand people.[35]​.

The first executive director of the GAM was Alejandra Wood,[35] until she resigned on September 30, 2015. A week later the board met to define the transition period and appointed Cristián Uribe (who has worked at the GAM since its creation as legal advisor and secretary of the board) as deputy in the position, until the new executive was elected, for which an open call was called.[36] On January 25, 2016 Felipe Mella was elected to the position, which he will hold for four years starting March 1. Experienced cultural manager, for the last 8 years he was in charge of the Santiago gallery Balmaceda Arte Joven.[37]​.

Until 2022 it hosted the Fury of the Book[38]​ and since 2024 it has hosted the International Contemporary Art Fair of Chile "Chaco (art fair)").[39]​.

Extension

In 2015, construction began on the expansion of the cultural center, which was intended to be inaugurated in 2017. Various difficulties, such as the flooding due to the overflowing of the Mapocho River in 2016, and the bankruptcy of the construction company, led to the works being paralyzed in 2018. Final work is expected to begin in 2021, to be ready in the first half of 2024.[40]​

Due to new postponements, the project was reactivated in 2024 under the Boric government, and the works are expected to be completed in 2028.[41]​.