The Palace of Cerro Castillo () is the official country retreat and summer residence of the President of Chile. It stands atop Cerro Castillo, a hill in Viña del Mar, in the Greater Valparaíso area of central Chile. Designed by the architects Luis Browne and Manuel Valenzuela in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, it was built between 1929 and 1930 on the site of the former Callao Fort during the presidency of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo.

The palace serves as an alternative seat of government to the La Moneda Palace in Santiago. By tradition, the president-elect spends the night of March 10 there before taking office in nearby Valparaíso, where Congress sits, and returns afterward for the official cabinet portrait and receptions. The palace has also hosted international summits and, in 2024, served as an emergency school and shelter for children affected by wildfires. It was declared a municipal historic monument in 2000 and a national historic monument in 2005. Its grounds are open to the public on limited days.

History Origins Under Spanish rule, Cerro Castillo was known as the plateau of the "First Sister" (Primera Hermana), one of seven hills belonging to the Viña del Mar estate of the Portuguese merchant Francisco Xavier Álvares. The hill takes its name from Callao Fort, a coastal fortification built there after 1866. Until the late 1920s, the president's summer residence was the former regional Intendencia in Valparaíso, today the Navy building on Plaza Sotomayor.

The idea of a presidential summer house on the hill is credited to Graciela Letelier, wife of President Ibáñez, who asked that a "rest residence" for Chile's heads of state be built on the old fort's grounds. The Navy ceded the fort's land to the national treasury. The project was carried out by the Directorate General of Public Works in coordination with the Viña del Mar seaside-resort improvement board, the Junta pro-Balneario.

Construction

Construction took place in 1929 and 1930 under Ibáñez, during the early years of the Great Depression. The palace was designed by Luis Browne and Manuel Valenzuela, with Fortunato Castro as project engineer. The plans covered the main residence, a gatehouse and a park with a swimming pool. The fort's cannons were kept and still decorate the gardens, but its masonry walls, up to 2 meters (6.6 ft) thick, along with two powder magazines and a casemate, were removed.

The project cost about 3 million pesos of the period. It was handed over to the government in January 1930, and the president's household began occupying it that year. The press of the day described it as one of the most sumptuous and tasteful buildings in South America. It was conceived as a showcase of national progress and used Chilean wood and materials.

The building's cost and luxury drew criticism from opponents of the government, who called it exaggeratedly expensive. According to one account, this is one reason later presidents such as Jorge Alessandri and Salvador Allende rarely stayed there.

Architecture

The palace is a Spanish Colonial Revival building of three above-ground stories and a basement, with of floor space, according to the government. A newspaper report on guided visits put the figure at 2,360 m². An internal elevator connects the levels. Rooms are arranged for work meetings, receptions and family gatherings, and the furnishings, which are decades old, have changed with the tastes of successive presidents.

The lower floor contains the reception rooms, a dining room, a kitchen and service areas, along with three stepped terraces on the hillside. The president's study, in the left wing, has a desk of native wood with a black leather top and walls paneled in native wood; it also holds a library and a coffee table with an onyx base. The second floor holds eight bedrooms for the president and guests. The top level, divided into two towers, houses a library, a radio room, an office and an observatory. Furnishings include Louis XIV style armchairs, Queen Anne style chairs and English-style tables.

The palace sits in a park of about overlooking the bay of Valparaíso. The grounds were expanded and landscaped during the administration of Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle.

Use Inaugurations

Traditionally, the incoming president of Chile spends the night before his or her inauguration in the palace and then returns to it afterward to sit for a photo portrait with the newly installed cabinet. Michelle Bachelet left the palace on the morning of March 11, 2006, to be sworn in, then returned to host a lunch for visiting heads of state and government.

Sebastián Piñera stayed there the night before taking office on March 11, 2010. His inaugural lunch was disrupted when he left on an emergency trip after the February 27 earthquake and its aftershocks. José Antonio Kast followed the tradition on March 11, 2026.

Presidential use Presidents have used the palace to differing degrees. Dictator Augusto Pinochet rarely stayed there, but it was the site of the wedding of his son Marco Antonio and Soledad Olave. On the morning of March 11, 1990, shortly after leaving power, Pinochet, as army commander in chief, called on the new president Patricio Aylwin there. Aylwin also spent a weekend there in 1991 studying the findings of the Rettig Report on human rights violations under the dictatorship before presenting it to the country.

Bachelet, during her first term, used the palace only occasionally, preferring her own vacation properties.

The palace has also hosted international meetings, including the VI Ibero-American Summit, the II Summit of the Americas and a UNASUR meeting.

2024 wildfires After the February 2024 wildfires around Viña del Mar, President Gabriel Boric authorized the palace to be used as a temporary school and recreational space for children affected by the fires. The initiative operated as an open school, providing activities, meals and support to children affected by the disaster who were staying in shelters elsewhere.

Heritage status and public access The Viña del Mar municipal council declared the palace a historic monument in 2000, and it became a national historic monument in 2005. Under Boric, an agreement between the University of Valparaíso and the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage introduced guided tours of the palace and gardens, offered one day per week.

Gallery

See also La Moneda Palace – seat of the President of Chile in Santiago

References

External links

Palacio Presidencial Cerro Castillo Residencia Presidencial Cerro Castillo