Edificio Comercial Edwards, Historical Monument at Estado and Merced streets, Santiago, Chile

The Edificio Comercial Edwards is a three-story cast-iron retail building on the southeast side of the Plaza de Armas, at the corner of Merced and Paseo Estado. Its ground floor has large rectangular openings, the second floor semicircular arched windows, and the third pedimented windows set between mosaic-covered panels. The chamfered corner is topped by a cupola.

Designed by Eugenio Joannon, the building's plans were taken to France in 1892, where the cast-iron structure was prefabricated and later assembled in Chile. In 1902 Agustín Edwards Mac-Clure acquired it for his brother Raúl, who sold it to Agustín Gómez. It passed to the Banco Español in 1909 and the Archdiocese of Santiago in 1910, housed the Bentjerodt pharmacy for years, and was declared a Monumento Histórico in 1972.

The building demonstrates Santiago's embrace of European design in the late 1800s and how local merchants favored modern materials imported from abroad. You can see on the facade how imported French metalwork created a new urban style in the city.

The ground floor still houses commercial spaces rented to different businesses, preserving the building's original working purpose. Its location on main streets makes it easy to spot and visit while exploring central Santiago.

The building's plans were drawn by Eugenio Joannon and taken to France in 1892, where the parts were prefabricated before assembly in Chile. For years the site housed the Farmacia y Botica Bentjerodt, a well-known pharmacy of the period, before Etelvino Villanueva bought the property in 1942 and rented out ground-floor units.