"Situation
It is found occupying a block, which overlooks La Rábida street and the avenues of Peru, Uruguay and Chile.
Its location was close to the other international pavilions in the United States Pavilion, Peru and Uruguay Pavilions, as well as the Lope de Vega theater and the Exhibition Casino.
History
Construction
On November 19, 1924, the Government of the Republic of Chile was officially invited by that of Spain to participate in the Exhibition, accepting the offer on January 21 , 1926 .
In 1927 the Association of Architects of Chile organized a project competition, in whose bases it was specified that it would be a permanent building, which was resolved on August 19 ; the project by Juan Martínez Gutiérrez, professor of Decorative Construction at the University of Santiago, with minor modifications, would be the unanimous winner of the contest. Although there was some controversy when it was made known to the public, considering that it had a certain Moorish air that did not give the image that Chilean society wanted to give of its country. The start of the works was launched in 1927, after knowing the decision of the contest, moving to Seville the architect Martínez Gutiérrez on October 31 .
The City Council of Seville would give them the land for the construction of their pavilion on November 28 of that same year; handing over the plot on the 29th in the presence of Carlos de Borbón y Borbón, Infante of Spain, Emilio Rodríguez Mendozadon, Minister Plenipotentiary of Chile, José Cruz Conde , Royal Commissioner of the exhibition, Nicolás Díaz Molero , Mayor of Seville , and the architect. Although the works will not really begin until August 4, 1928 , without apparent justification.
However, financial complications arose; Thus, some aspects of the original plan will have to be modified. The construction company submitted its resignation on December 21, paralyzing the works, and the architect even resigned four months before the work was completed. The architect had made some modifications with respect to the initial approach that involved an increase in the budgeted expenditure of 1,300,000 pesetas; in Chile there was great interest in giving a good image at the Exhibition and the budget was increased resulting in the final cost of the building being 1,800,000 pesetas, however it was at the cost of the dismissal of Martínez Gutiérrez, who was replaced by the Sevillian architect Casto Fernandez Shaw .
Martínez Gutiérrez had the conception of the original approach as a preliminary project, that is, some general outlines that could be adjusted, adapting according to the real needs that were seen as pertinent in the execution; Among such needs are those of the exhibition program, essential for the author of the work to know about it and that had not yet been defined by the Chilean committee. A large part of the mismatch was due to a delay in construction caused by the architect preferring to stockpile materials before anything else in anticipation of the plausible lack of them once the monumental works of the exhibition began, which could jeopardize the provision of these; On the other hand, thanks to the selected material, once the work began, I knew that it would be carried out very quickly,
It would be this accumulation of material that would cause the deficit that led to the withdrawal of the instructor due to non-payments, a conflict that would take time to resolve and in which mediation had to be sought to resolve the conflict, one of the mediators being Fernández Shaw himself , taking charge of the work after payment of the amount required by another company.
The modifications were a point of disagreement with the Chilean institutions, since it was considered that the original project had not been adhered to, thus the wing that would be destined for consular space, originally to the right of the courtyard, had finally been located at the other end. , on the other side of the building used for exhibitions (being next to La Rábida street). Another point of friction is that Martínez Gutiérrez forced the Chilean decorators of the elements of the façade to travel to Seville to do their work, under his direct supervision, and also unsuccessfully tried to select Spanish artists for said work; when in Chile it would have been preferred that they were produced at home. All this led to his dismissal, which does not seem to have come as a surprise to Martínez Gutiérrez.
The new person in charge of the work, Fernández Shaw, after more than two months of stoppage, resumes the works, but despite adjusting to the original idea, he was unable to finish them by the opening date of the event. In this way, the building is finished in May but the project would not be completed until mid-August 1929.
Ibero-American Exhibition
During the exhibition, a wide collection was presented, distinguishing several sections in it:
Industry section:
Process of extraction and elaboration of saltpeter.
530 pharmaceutical products derived from iodine and their livestock applications.
Heavy machinery, fabrics, leather, footwear, etc.
Samples from the school of arts and crafts in Santiago, on steel, copper and other materials.
Wine, preserves and food products section: Presentation of twenty wineries and forty canning companies.
Press room:
Retrospective of the dean newspaper of the South American press «El Mercurio».
Selection of newspapers and magazines.
Tourism section: Photographs of the beaches and landscapes of Chile and its tourist offer.
Copper Hall: Considered the most interesting exhibition in the pavilion, it showed the evolution of the mineral from extraction to the final product.
Promotion section: Map of Chilean steamship lines for foreign trade.
Mining Hall: Collection of minerals.
Geography and History Room:
Urban development of Santiago, relief map of Chile, library of ancient works, etc.
Ethnological evolution, the life of women throughout Chilean history.
Fine Arts Section: With 170 paintings and 24 sculptures from the Santiago Museum of Fine Arts and contemporary artists.
Instruction and Welfare Section: State of education in Chile and new pedagogical techniques.
Communication routes section: Statistics on your routes.
Forest, fishing and hunting section: Collection of embalmed fish, birds and shellfish.
Agriculture and Livestock Section: Graphics, samples and models.
Araucan and folk Art Section: Collections of textiles, pottery and Araucan silver.
Reproduction room: On the second floor and with capacity for 300 people.
The interior was decorated with seven pictorial works, large murals that would later be exhibited at the University of Talca in Chile, by the Chilean artists Laureano Ladrón de Guevara Romero and Arturo Gordon Vargas , who won the first prize, shared with the gold medal of the Exhibition.
Other activities that took place during the Iberoamericana were the publication of a book in English about Chile and the celebration from October 21 to 26 of the week in honor of the Republic of Chile.
After the show
After finishing the exhibition, on Columbus Day 1935 , the Chilean Government ceded the building and the adjoining land to the Spanish -but not the consular headquarters- deeding for 1,640,375 pesetas, to install a school of applied arts and crafts: although during the war they would be used as a hospital before being assigned to the educational uses agreed upon when the war ended.
In the 1950s it was quartered and from 1961 to 1963 it housed the San Isidoro secondary school as its headquarters was under construction.
To adapt it to its educational purpose, specific modifications were made in 1982 , and later repairs in 1987 , 2006 and 2008 , although it is one of the best preserved thanks to the type of factory material.
The Chilean consulate and the Seville School of Art are located in this building .
Pavilion
It is the only avant- garde pavilion in the exhibition, framed in « Art Decó », even in its decorative elements, such as forging; in the building it is intended to represent the Andean mountain range on one side and the coastal plain on the other, which is achieved through a composition of volumes with a constant staggering that culminates with its tower ,
The set framed in the gardens will interpret the Chilean spirit, without resorting to colonial motifs, but rather to groups of volumes and pieces of sculpture and painting capable of suggesting the atmosphere of a town and making us guess its culture. To express the placid backwaters of the Chilean coasts and the titanic orography of the Andes, composing the gray and white masses in an almost sculptural way, which ascend until they culminate in the strong tower…
Juan Martinez Gutierrez. The Liberal , November 1 , 1928 .
Despite the financing problems during its construction, this concrete pavilion will be the largest of those built by foreign countries for the event, with three floors and a 50-meter-high tower; being the largest of them, with a constructed area of ??2,687.5 m² that stands on a plot of 5,699 m².
The structure is a framework of concrete pillars and beams, wrought with said material; except in the noble areas where wood is used and in certain parts coffered ceilings are added . The roofs are made of wooden trusses, the inclined ones, and again the flat ones made of concrete, resolved in the Andalusian style. The columns in the courtyard are made of gray and red stone.
The façade, in a pre-Columbian style, is monumental and red in color, like the external plinth. There are also large blocks of stonework with indigenous decoration. The stuccos stand out, gradually varying from gray at the base to white at the top, although in some places finished in red.
The openings of the main door have a trapezoidal shape that decreases the length of the stone lintel, being carved in isodome ashlars.
The buttresses used in the facades and patio are stylized and, although modified, act as a symbolic reference to a characteristic of Chilean architecture.
While inside it plays with straight and curved lines, generating arches and vaults in its volumes . The tribune of the main hall, which is located at the entrance of the building, is supported by a vault on lowered arches, forming a space on a smaller scale compared to the enormous interior.
There are elements that have features, such as the coffered ceiling in the main hall, the start of the staircase or various ornaments - friezes and bars - that are clearly inspired by colonial architecture."
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