The Palacio Bruna is a palace located on the southern edge of the

Parque Forestal Parque Forestal is an urban park in the city of Santiago, Chile. The park was created on reclaimed land from the Mapocho River The River Mapocho ( es, Río Mapocho) ( Mapudungun: ''Mapu chuco'', "water that penetrates the land") is a river in Ch ...

in Santiago, Chile. The three story building has an

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

character. It is entirely surrounded by a

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

decorated with garlands and

putti A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University of ...

, and was constructed between 1916 and to serve as the residence for the

saltpeter Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate Salt (chemistry), salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ...

magnate Augusto Bruna. Julio Bertrand, a Chilean architect, was designated as responsible for its design and construction. He died before seeing the palace completed and his friend

Pedro Prado Pedro Prado Calvo (8 October 1886 – 31 January 1952) was a Chilean writer and architect. He won the Chilean National Prize for Literature in 1949. Biography Prado was born to parents Absalón Prado Marín and Laura Calvo on October 8, 1886. H ...

took over and completed the building. Industrial-scale production of synthetic sodium nitrate and the resulting collapse of the saltpeter price led to the bankruptcy of Bruna's business. In 1921, as a consequence of this event, the palace had to be offered for sale. It was purchased by the U.S. ambassador to Chile, never having been occupied by Augusto Bruna. It housed the American Embassy until 1962 and then served as the U.S. consulate in Santiago from 1962 to 1994. Since 1995, the building has housed the Chilean National Commerce Chamber.

References

{{coord, 33, 26, 14, S, 70, 38, 21, W, type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Santiago