Wulff Castle

Northern view

"El Castillo Wulff", as it is called in Spanish, in 1930

Current Headquarters for the Unidad de Patrimonio de la Municipalidad de Viña del Mar (Viña del Mar City Hall Patrimony Unit). Located on 37 Marina Avenue, it is almost hanging over the sea.

History

Mr. Gustavo Wulff, German saltpeter and coal trader, as well as maritime transporter, migrated to Chile in 1881. In 1904, he bought from Dr. Teodoro Von Schoeders 1,260 square metres (13,600 sq ft) in front of Cerro Castillo (Castle Hill), in Viña del Mar where he had a house built and ready in 1908.

By 1917, Mr. Wulff hired architect Alberto Cruz Montt to make the house into a castle. Eventually a new tower was added built upon some rocks on the northern side of the castle, and a bridge joined them together.

In 1946, Mrs. Esperanza Artaza Matta inherited the property, and asked another architect, José Alcalde, to transform it again. The southern tower was suppressed.

The City bought the castle in 1959. From 1960 until 1988, it housed the Museo Naval de la Armada de Chile (Chilean Navy Forces Museum). Between 1990 and 1999, it lodged the collection of the writer Salvador Reyes Figueroa. In 1995, it was pronounced a National Historical Monument by Chilean Law.^[1]

References

Coordinates: 33°1′8.94″S 71°33′54.6″W / 33.0191500°S 71.565167°W / -33.0191500; -71.565167