The Casa Marcionelli was a historical residential and commercial building located near San Martín Plaza, in

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

. The 3-story building was destroyed in 2023 by a fire during a series of protests in its immediate surroundings. The building was named after its first owner, Severino Marcionelli.

History

The building's area was bought by Italian Swiss businessman and philanthropist Severino Marcionelli ( Bironico, 1869 –

, 1957), originally from

Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...

, alongside his business partner, José Di Luka Hanza Pericevic, originally from Cannosa,

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

. Marcionelli, who emigrated to Peru in 1890, was a mining entrepreneur who owned mines in southern Peru, had previously participated in the construction of the high-altitude Galera railway tunnel in

Ticlio Ticlio (or Anticona) is a mountain pass and the highest point (4,818 m or 15,807 ft) of the Central Highway of Peru (km 120), located in the Andes Mountains in the Chicla District, Huarochirí Province, Department of Lima. It used to be a railway ...

, and had also ventured into the country's

agricultural sector The primary sector of the economy includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining. The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy in de ...

. He also helped establish and was an important member of local organizations, such as the ''

Club de la Unión The Club de la Unión is a non-profit Peruvian civil association which was founded on October 10, 1868. Its founders include such notable historical figures such as admiral Miguel Grau, colonel Alfonso Ugarte, and colonel Francisco Bolognesi, man ...

'' or the Peruvian chapter of ''Pro Ticino'', a diaspora organization for Ticinese Swiss in Peru, becoming an important member of the diaspora. The building, built in the 1920s, originally housed Marcionelli's mining company's offices. Marcionelli himself served as honorary consul as the building also began to house the Consulate general of

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in Lima until the late 1940s, when the consulate was elevated to a legation. The current location of the Swiss embassy in Lima also belonged to Marcionelli.

Fire

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

began on the night of January 19, 2023, amid anti-government protests in its immediate surroundings and in the nearby San Martín Plaza. The fire was classified as a ''Code 3'', i.e. out of control, later escalating to a ''Code 4'', i.e. an unsalvageable fire or a "local tragedy". The building's

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

gradually collapsed in the night of the 19th and early morning of the 20th, with only parts of the first floor surviving. Firefighters reportedly had problems with fire hydrants and were thus unable to properly stop the fire for hours. At the time of the fire, the house had been recently restored for the rental of its spaces in artistic exhibitions and to be used as a hostal. One person was evacuated to a nearby hospital and two people were treated for smoke inhalation as a result of the fire. All of the building's inhabitants were evacuated but were left homeless.

Tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...

canisters deployed by police forces were pointed out by protestors as a possible source of the fire, but statements by authorities such as

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Vicente Romero Fernández pointed out that such a claim was false, as said devices cannot cause fires. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. A security camera from the Municipality of Lima recorded the moment in which the protesters launched fireworks near the house; the residents of the place declared to the press that an explosion was heard before the incident.

References

{{coord missing, Peru Buildings and structures in Lima Demolished buildings and structures in Peru Buildings and structures completed in 1923 Buildings and structures demolished in 2023 Peru–Switzerland relations Historic Centre of Lima

History

Fire

See also

References