Casa Hodgkinson, Historical monument in Graneros, Chile
Casa Hodgkinson is a two-story brick house in Graneros, built in 1884 with brick walls, pine floors and an Oregon pine roof. Its second floor had a balcony. A fire on 10 March 2013 destroyed the building; only the first-floor facade remains.
Gilberto Hodgkinson built the house in 1884; he and his wife Elena Undurraga Ovalle ran the Fundición Metalúrgica Ovalle, where the 1902 Ovalle-Hodgkinson "La Chancha", the first car built in Chile, was made. In 1906 William Braden installed Braden Copper Company offices there. Graneros municipality bought it in 1980, and a 2013 fire left only the ground-floor facade.
Locals knew the house as Casa San Luis when a shop of that name traded inside it. From 2005 the municipality used the building for local offices and the communal culture house, so the town's cultural activity was based here until the 2013 fire.
The site sits at the intersection of Avenida La Compania and Avenida O'Higgins in the city center, making it easy to find and accessible on foot. Note that mainly the first floor is visible for viewing from outside.
The house is also remembered as Casa San Luis, the name of the store it housed while in private hands before the municipality of Graneros bought it in 1980. The town first used it as a youth behavioural centre and in 2005 fitted it out for local offices and the communal culture house.
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