Edificio de la Intendencia Metropolitana de Santiago, Government building in civic district of Santiago, Chile.
The Edificio de la Intendencia Metropolitana is a four-story building at 93 Morandé Street, on the southeast corner of Morandé and Moneda, with facades on both streets and a chamfered corner topped by a clock cupola. Its design by architect Manuel Cifuentes Gómez, opened in 1916, was inspired by a Paris building at 134 Rue Réaumur designed by Jacques Hermant in 1901. Marble stairs serve the four floors, finished in plaster, wood, iron and bronze.
The building was originally constructed in 1916 as the headquarters for the newspaper El Diario Ilustrado and was purchased by the government in 1928 to become the Metropolitan Intendancy offices. This change linked its journalistic past with its role in the administrative center of the city.
The stained glass is a dome, not flat panels: eight lower sections designed by painter Pedro Subercaseaux depict The Homeland, The Chilean Navy, The Mining, The Education, The Prayer, The Sciences, The Communications and The Harvest. The dome crowns the building's interior above the marble stairs and offices.
The building occupies the southeast corner of Morandé and Moneda streets, at Morandé 93, beside the Palacio de La Moneda rather than across from it. It houses the Regional Government of the Metropolitan Region, so the interior is not open to visitors; the double facade, corner clock and memorial plaque are seen from the street.
The corner clock is German-made, but its bells were cast in the early 1900s at the Fundición Las Rosas, a Chilean foundry. The building's design was modeled on a Paris block at 134 Rue Réaumur, next to the Bourse, drawn by Jacques Hermant in 1901.
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