VIÑA DEL MAR CLUB

The prominent Buenos Aires merchant living in Viña del Mar, Mr. Jorge Borrowman Osman, suggested creating a Club in Viña del Mar, a proposal that had numerous followers from Viña del Mar.
Thus, the first formal meeting of the members of the nascent Club was held on June 19, 1901, at the headquarters of the First Fire Company, headed by the provisional president, Mr. David Burns Burman. The members of the first Board of Directors were elected on that occasion.
On October 15, 1901, the new headquarters was opened in the house on Alvarez Street, leased to Mr. Roberto Baird. The building was inaugurated with all the pomp that the occasion deserved.
The first years of the Viña Club brought together in its rooms important wealthy people from the saltpeter industry, managers of shipping and banking companies, investors, merchants, ranchers, part of the national aristocracy that rested in the city, and many neighbors who began to build their houses. in a valley that offered them tranquility, good rest and projection, benefited by the neighborhood of Valparaíso and the proximity to the capital.
After the catastrophic earthquake of August 16, 1906, the Viña Club was not immune to misfortune, leaving its headquarters almost completely destroyed. A few months after the earthquake, it was planned to build a permanent headquarters for the Institution. With the help of some prominent citizens and public men, and the generous help given by some of the founding partners, it was decided to purchase a land with a privileged location, next to the Railway Station. Ettore Petri Santini, known in Chile as Héctor Petri, was entrusted with the design of what would be the Social Headquarters of the Viña Club.
From 1907 to 1910, work was carried out for the construction of the new headquarters of the Club, which, upon completing its nine years of life, and under the presidency of Admiral Juan M. Simpson Baeza, who had collaborated in the institution since its founding stage, had a monumental building of elegant neoclassical style, located in the heart of the city, converted into a Viñamarino symbol over time.