The Edificio Crillón, also known as Edificio Larraín is a building in

Santiago de Chile 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, whose ...

, located at 1035 Agustinas Street, between Bandera and Ahumada streets. The building, formerly known as Hotel Crillón, was a hotel and is a shopping gallery named Galería Crillón. The portion of the building formerly occupied by the hotel is currently occupied by a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

. It was declared as a Historic Preservation Building.

History

The building was designed by Austrian architect Alberto Siegel, and architect of Swiss descent Augusto Geiger, and built between 1917 and 1919. It was originally built as the home for the Larraín García Moreno family. The building was converted to a shopping arcade in 1925 and to a hotel, originally named Hotel Savoy, and then renamed Hotel Crillón. During the 1930s was an important site for social meetings. Notable guests stayed at the hotel including globally known actors such as

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, ...

and

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

. Two crimes of passion perpetrated by female writers occurred at the Crillón Hotel; the first took place on 27 January 1941, when

María Luisa Bombal María Luisa Bombal Anthes (; Viña del Mar, 8 June 1910 – 6 May 1980) was a Chilean novelist and poet. Her work incorporates erotic, surrealist, and feminist themes. She was a recipient of the Santiago Municipal Literature Award. Bi ...

shot her lover three times, who survived the shots and did not take legal actions against Bombal. The second incident occurred in April 1955, when the writer María Carolina Geel shot her mate five times to death. Since the hotel was closed in February 1978, the main volume of the building has been occupied for commercial purposes. A branch of Ripley

was housed in the building in 2005, after the renovations by architect Miguel Molinari, who preserved the facade, the

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

stairways, elevators and lanterns of the interior of the building.

Cultural references

* The novel ''La chica del Crillón'' (The girl from the Crillón (hotel)) by

Joaquín Edwards Bello Joaquín Edwards Bello (; May 10, 1887 – February 19, 1968) was a Chilean writer and journalist of British descent. Life Edwards Bello was born in Valparaíso, one of the most important ports in Chile. His family, the Edwards, is still one of ...

was published in 1935. The novel was adapted into the 1941 movie ''La chica del Crillón'' with screenplay by Jorge Délano Frederick. * The cookbook ''Famosas recetas (''Famous Recipes'')'' by Hotel Crillón was published in 1951, which included the extensive menu of

French cuisine French cuisine () is the cooking traditions and practices from France. It has been influenced over the centuries by the many surrounding cultures of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, in addition to the food traditions of the re ...

offered by its restaurant —like the «crema Crillón»— and the cocktails that were served at its bar.

Gallery

File:Acceso ex Hotel Crillón (actual Ripley) 02.JPG, Main entrance File:Escalera Interior ex Hotel Crillón (actual Ripley) 02.JPG, Interior stairway File:Galería Crillón, Santiago de Chile 03.JPG, Shopping arcade

References

{{Reflist Defunct hotels 1919 architecture Buildings and structures in Santiago