Corrugated City

Tuesday 23 September 2008

Banks of Valparaiso II: Old School

A while ago, I posted about the banks here in Valparaiso. It turns out that I'm not the first person to have this idea. Whilst searching through the information on Memoria Chilena I came across a great book called Valparaiso 1536-1910 which had been scanned and uploaded from the original housed in the Biblioteca Nacional. The book can be downloaded and is an extremely detailed history of Valparaiso, Chile. At some point I might even get around to reading the text and not just look at the old photos. Memoria Chilena is a really good source of information in general for Chilean history, by the way.

Anyway, here are photos from sometime between 1906-1910 of all the banks in Valparaiso. The images are quite grainy as I've had to adjust them a little. The original scanned and uploaded book is really bright and it's tricky to see many of the photos. I've done my best to make them a little easier on the eye.

As far as I can tell, the only bank still functioning and in its original location is the Banco de Chile. The Anglo Sud-Americano building is now occupied by the banking monster Santander. Many of the other buildings I don't actually recognise but I'll keep my eye out when I'm wandering around in future.


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