The beautiful or useful. Ideologies in dispute about the creation of the first architectural university course in Chile, 1848-1853

Abstract

In 1849 the first university architecture course in Chile was founded at the University of Chile. Although local historiography has established that the orientation of the course was, at its roots, Beaux-Arts style this term had certainly not been defined in detail. This article analyzes an agonistic episode that emerged from this foundation, in which two discourses that attributed to architecture disparate social, material and ideological values confronted each other. The question that it attempted to answer would revolve around the role and the importance of architecture in Chilean society. Was it associated with its capacity to drive universal values of beauty and culture, or rather its capacity to satisfy the material necessities of a country under construction?

In 1849 the first university architecture course in Chile was founded at the University of Chile. Although local historiography has established that the orientation of the course was, at its roots, Beaux-Arts style this term had certainly not been defined in detail. This article analyzes an agonistic episode that emerged from this foundation, in which two discourses that attributed to architecture disparate social, material and ideological values confronted each other. The question that it attempted to answer would revolve around the role and the importance of architecture in Chilean society. Was it associated with its capacity to drive universal values of beauty and culture, or rather its capacity to satisfy the material necessities of a country under construction?