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The idea that disasters become an 
opportunity is almost a cliché; what 
we never know is who or what will 
benefit from it. Based on the debates 
following the 1906 earthquake in 
Valparaíso, this text argues that 
when a city is ruined and decisions to 
rebuild must be taken, the difference 
between what is valued and what is 
not is clearly shown. The opportunity, 
then, becomes a discussion on values.

A ccording to economics, things are worth their price in the market, following the laws 
of supply and demand. However, we also know that 
there are things that cannot be easily alienated or 
traded, which does not mean that they have no 
value. Marion Fourcade calls these goods “peculiar” 
– including among them wild animals, vital organs,
and nature (Fourcade, 2011). The city could certainly
be included in this list. While it is true that the
urban land is usually traded and valued in monetary
terms, the city is more than the soil on which
it is located; it is a social construction, a shared
experience. It is the product of a society as well
as the space that makes that society possible and
conditions it (Mumford, 1961). As a peculiar good,
the value of a city is not openly defined, as neither

The reconsTrucTion of 
Valparaíso’s urban Value afTer 
The 1906 earThquake

magdaLena giL
Profesora Asistente, Escuela de Sociología
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Santiago, Chile

Keywords
Plan

City

Land

Place

Disasters

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are the particular values associated with it. However, 
there are times when the value of a peculiar good must 
be discussed or contested. For example, we value a 
family heirloom when it is lost or a wetland once it has 
been contaminated. In these cases, it is the destruction 
of the object or place what makes the loss of value clear, 
and its restitution forces to define what, how, and how 
much that loss is valued.

This is what has happened in many Chilean cities 
after the great socio-natural disasters that have affected 
them throughout history, especially earthquakes. As 
described by Torrent (2016), that is the case for Chillán 
after the 1939 earthquake left a virtually blank plan 
from which a new city could be thought from scratch. 
Within this context, different “value economies” can 
be considered (Boltanski & Thévenot, 2006), each 
highlighting a particular aspect of the territory. That 
is, one must discuss – in many cases for the first time 
– what is it that it is valued from a city, what must be
recovered and what can be replaced. This is because
the post-disaster recovery process is not only a task for
the physical world, even if determined by the need to
rebuild. Recovery is also a process driven by the desire
to re-engage with the social and cultural life that the
disaster has endangered, something Davis and Alexander
(2005) have called genius loci or ‘sense of place.’

An example of this is the destruction of Valparaíso 
in 1906, since it raised a fervent and agitated 
discussion about the new city plan, bringing forward 
different visions regarding its value as imaginary and 

1 El Almendral antes del 
terremoto de 1906. Calle y 
Plaza Victoria, Valparaíso. 
(Actual Av. Pedro Montt). /  
El Almendral before the 1906 
earthquake. Victoria Street 
and Square, Valparaíso. 
(Current Pedro Montt Av.).
Fuente / Source: Postal 
de Colección / Postcard 
Collection.

1

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commonplace. However, there was also a certain degree 
of consensus on the general values that should inspire 
the ‘ideal’ Valparaíso, specifically the search for a more 
modern, more hygienic and more monumental city. 
In this way, catastrophe becomes an opportunity to 
redesign the urban space, creating a ‘window’ through 
which the urban values of a society can more clearly be 
observed (Healey, 2011).

Valparaíso’s destruction in 1906
On the night of August 16, 1906, an earthquake 
magnitude 8.2 Mw1 struck Valparaíso, destroying
almost completely Chile’s first port and second most 
important city. Strong swells, destructive fires and 
many aftershocks, some almost as strong as the major 
earthquake, followed the event. After a night out in the 
open, the scene of the next morning was devastating: 
whatever the earthquake had left standing was then 
destroyed by fire. The official number of casualties in 
Valparaíso was estimated at 3,800 people, with more than 
20,000 injured (Zegers, 1906; Rodríguez & Gajardo, 1906)2 
and $ 100 million in property damage.3 It was indeed the 
greatest catastrophe in Chile’s history to the date.

From La Serena to the north and to Talca to the 
south, the whole country experienced the earthquake. 
However, no city or town suffered as much as Valparaíso, 
and specifically, El Almendral neighborhood. With famous 
theaters, cafes and department stores, El Almendral 
ranged from Plaza de la Victoria up to the feet of the 
Barón Hill in the city’s flat area.4 It used to be the most 
splendid part of Valparaíso and the heart of the local 
elite. Even so, the mansions had to tolerate the port’s 
proximity, while sharing space with some cités and 
even small industry. Sadly, the land of El Almendral 
had been reclaimed from the sea through landfills and, 
consequently, almost every building collapsed with the 
earthquake (Rodríguez & Gajardo, 1906; Martland, 2006).5

Unfortunately, we do not know much about the 
damage that the earthquake inflicted in other parts of 
the city, considering a third of it were conventillos [slums] 
(Urbina, 2011). According to the Mayor, destruction 
encompassed “the whole city”; however, specific records 
refer exclusively to the oligarchic city: the center, the 
port, and El Almendral.6 Recent studies have pointed out 
that most of the hills were effectively destroyed, mainly 
due to fires, but some survived in fairly good conditions 
(Savala, 2012). Nevertheless, the 64 totally devastated 
blocks in El Almendral were the ones bearing the highest 
value for the elite, since they not only condensed most 
of the trade but also of their social life. Therefore, its 
reconstruction became an issue of first importance and, 
moreover, the destruction of Valparaíso was presented as 
an opportunity to design a dream city that later became 
an example for Chile and the rest of the world.7

Plans for Valparaíso’s reconstruction
The day after the tragedy, a group of neighbors began to 
organize to help and to plan Valparaíso’s reconstruction. 
The group was known as the Comisión General de 

2 El Almendral luego del 
terremoto de 1906. Calle y 
Plaza Victoria, Valparaíso 
(Actual Av. Pedro Montt). /  
El Almendral after the 1906 
earthquake. Victoria Street 
and Square, Valparaíso. 
(Current Pedro Montt Av.).
Fotografía / Photograph: 
Carlos Brandt.

2

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3 Destrucción en El 
Almendral, Valparaíso. /  
Destruction in El Almendral, 
Valparaíso. Fotografía / 
Photograph: Carlos Brandt.

4 Plano de Valparaíso 
señalando las zonas más 
afectadas por el terremoto 
e incendios. / Valparaíso 
plan indicating the areas 
most affected by the 
earthquake and fires.
Fuente / Source: Rodríguez 
& Gajardo, 1906.

Vecinos [Neighbors General Commission] (cg v) 
which, formed by about thirty elite men, it included 
the Mayor and the city’s Intendant.8 To meet its goal 
of leading reconstruction, the cg v formed a technical 
sub-commission to design a new plan for Valparaíso. 
The cg v ’s proposal was radical: the government should 
expropriate all El Almendral (approximately 545,000 
m2) while the commission would design a new city to 
build in its place.9 The plan was designed by Francisco 
Garnham and Jorge Lyon, both engineers and local 
citizens. According to Garnham’s analysis, “the flat part 
of the city’s layout contains all the conditions required 
by a modern city,” a concept on which he designed 
the new plan and defined the measurements for new 
avenues, streets, squares, and boulevards.10 Any trace of 
the previous city had to be eradicated: old conventillos 
and factories were to be relocated in other areas, 
starting with the new ‘camps’ that had emerged after 
the earthquake.11 The new rooms for these “souls” (sic) 
should be located in Playa Ancha, on the outskirts of 
the oligarchic city. The project was presented in the 
newspaper El Mercurio on August 25, drawing support 
from the local elite.12 The issue, however, was that the 
proposal was so expensive that it could end up being 
“more ruinous than the earthquake itself,” as recorded in 
the cg v minutes.13

On the other hand, landowners located in El 
Almendral were not convinced with the cg v ’s plan. 
Most did not want money for their houses, but to rebuild 
them in the same place. Millionaires – the owners 
argued – had properties elsewhere and saw the land 

3

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in El Almendral only as an investment.14 However, 
for the owners, El Almendral was their home, and a 
“wholesale” expropriation would deprive them of living 
in their neighborhood ever again.15 Consequently, the 
owners presented their own plan for the area designed 
by the architect Carlos Claussen. The proposal sought 
to maintain as much as possible the old city plan, thus 
minimizing the impact of possible expropriations (set 
at only 102.975 m2). Nonetheless, it also sought to 
build a larger, more ordered city that was better than 
the previous one. In this sense, the plan considered 
streets to be opened and rectified, without adding any 
new avenues, squares or boulevards. The project was 
much cheaper than that of the cg v ’s, not only because 
expropriations were kept to a minimum but also 
because water and light services were left intact.16

Finally, a third proposal was presented by Abelardo 
Arriagada, director of Municipal Works at the local 
Municipality, supported by some of Valparaíso’s boards 
of residents. The project sought to respond to different 
concerns by the local elite, establishing large avenues, 
plazas, and boulevards while only considering land 
expropriation when needed for these developments. 
The problem was that some landowners would be left 
with minimal plots.17

To decide on the issue, President Montt sent a law 
for the reconstruction of Valparaíso to Congress (Law 
1876). During the debate, the cg v plan was discussed 
at length, as well as those presented by Claussen and 
Arriagada.18 Finally, on December 6, the law was passed 
without any specific plan. Instead, it required the 
creation of a Reconstruction Board ( jr) with executive 
powers to decide on a new plan for El Almendral. 
Montt’s mandate to the jr was to completely redesign 
El Almendral, just as the cg v wanted, but maintaining 
the former plan “as much as possible,”19 following the 
landowners’ wishes.

Law 1876 gave an unprecedented freedom to the 
jr , since every decision had to be followed literally in 
all areas: design, execution, zoning, and regulation. As 
Martland (2006) has already pointed out, this meant 
that the jr took almost complete control of the area 
and granted immense power to the State over the city, 
or at least part of it. In fact, the jr was controlled by 
executive representatives and was subject to direct 
control of the executive. However, the neighbors still 
maintained significant power. The five men appointed 

“Catastrophe becomes an 
opportunity to redesign the 
urban space, creating a 
‘window’ through which the 
urban values of a society can 
more clearly be observed.”

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5 Propuesta de la c g v. 
Plano de F. Garnham y  
J. Lyon. / cg v proposal. 
Plan by F. Garnham and
J. Lyon. Fuente / Source: 
La Unión, 11 de octubre de 
1906. / October 11, 1906.

6 Propuesta del Comité 
de Propietarios. Plano de 
C. Claussen. 
Landowners’ proposal. 
Plan by A. Bertrand. 
Fuente / Source: La 
Unión, 6 de noviembre de 
1906. / November 6, 1906.

5

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7 A. Arriagada,  
plano / plan.  
Fuente / Source:  La 
Unión, 7 de octubre de 
1906. / October 7, 1906.

by the President were: Francisco Valdés Vergara, head 
of the cg v and possibly the most powerful man in 
Valparaíso; Alejo Barrios Contreras, also member of the 
cg v, former Mayor and then Deputy for Valparaíso; 
Santiago Lyon Santa María, founder of the Chilean 
Vapor Company, who had not participated in the cg v ; 
Domingo V. Santa María, geographer and engineer, 
former director of State Railways and professor at the 
University of Chile; and finally, Alejandro Bertrand, a 
distinguished geographer who had previously designed a 
new plan for the city of Santiago. In brief, the President 
appointed a commission that balanced representatives of 
the local elite with two engineers on behalf of the State, 
which was reflected in the final plan.20

The final project
While it is true that the plan sanctioned by the jr 
encompassed elements from the different proposals, it 
was mainly designed by Bertrand. The engineer took into 
consideration most of what the executive requested, 
keeping part of the previous layout, but setting new 
guidelines for reconstruction. First, it intended to set 
wide and straight streets, eliminating abrupt corners 
and shortening routes to improve security measures. 
Secondly, it opened new streets and roads, in addition 
to introducing new squares that served as public 
walkways. Third, it sought to level streets and to bury 
water channels coming down the hills.21 Although this 
meant significant expropriations, it did not imply that all 

7

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El Almendral was to be confiscated. The requirements 
of the National Treasury were also taken into account 
since the final plan was significantly cheaper than the 
one requested by the cg v. It was ratified by a decree on 
behalf of President Montt on January 18, 1907.

Engineer Enrique Budge was appointed to materialize 
Valparaíso’s reconstruction. However, by the year 1910, 
the Centennial of the Republic, the reconstruction works 
were still in progress. A number of issues had delayed 
the implementation of the Government’s plan. Of major 
importance was the fact that many people had begun 
repairing their buildings without authorization from 
the jr , which complicated the expropriations. Likewise, 
the 1907 Chilean economic crisis made it harder to 
get funds from the State. Lastly, on 1906 a new plain 
roadway linked Valparaíso with Viña del Mar, turning 
the connection between both cities much more efficient 
not only by avoiding the detour among the hills, but 
also by including a tramway. In addition, the lack of 
dwelling spaces in Valparaíso after the earthquake forced 
people to other parts in the area. Seven years after the 
earthquake, the reconstruction of El Almendral was still 
moving at a slow pace, while in Viña del Mar there were 
about 500 new mansions, each with its own garden.

Still, El Almendral was rebuilt, its streets enlarged 
and paved, and the waterways channeled and vaulted. 
In Brazil Avenue, the first to be renovated, important 
monuments such as the British Arch and statues of Lord 
Cochrane and Christopher Columbus were located. 

8 Propuesta final de la j r . 
Plano de A. Bertrand.  
 J R’s final proposal. Plan by 
A. Bertrand. 
Fuente / Source:    El 
Mercurio (Valparaíso),
9 de enero de 1907.
January 9, 1907.

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Pedro Montt and Columbus Avenues were also opened. 
Secondly, riverbeds were covered by paving the streets, 
which prevented the continuous rain flooding. Thirdly, 
El Almendral was leveled according to the rest of the 
city, using the rubble left by the earthquake as fill. 
Finally, a number of squares were transformed, especially 
Victoria Square, which was enlarged by a whole block 
and received bronze statues representing the seasons 
of the year. Here a new urban center was established, 
comprising a new theater and municipal offices. The 
lands formerly used for these purposes were converted, 
in turn, into the Simón Bolívar Square (Ugarte, 1910).

Urban values expressed in the reconstruction 
of Valparaíso
Despite their differences, it is clear that all proposals 
share a relatively common view on the ‘ideal’ Valparaíso. 
Within it, a “modern” city seems to be the main theme. 
For most of the local dwellers, and especially for those 
who participated in the cg v, any vestige of the former 
city had to be eliminated, giving way to a new one in 
accordance with its time. In practical terms, this meant 
a more ordered, safe and hygienic city, as reflected even 
in the most conservative proposals. Particularly, it was 
thought that the “tortuous, narrow streets”22 were to 
disappear, substituted by a new, “smarter” layout that 
encompassed avenues and boulevards in the style of 
great European cities.23 This was the dream of the local 
elite and “now,” as El Mercurio indicated, “supporters of 
the wide roads have enormously increased, following all 
those who felt the wobbly buildings above their heads.” 
The paper added: “This same argument, in fact, will serve 
to prevent the stupid opposition often made to open 
spaces, parks, gardens, and squares, considered by some 
a luxury and which are a need in every civilized city.”24

Within this context, the hygiene problem was 
fundamental. The issue had already been raised years 
ago,25 but conditions had become much more desperate 
after the disaster given the tents installed among the 
rubble.26 In fact, Law 1887 was officially named “Law 
to repair the damages caused by the earthquake of last 
August 16 in the city of Valparaíso, to prevent this city 
from flooding and to improve its hygienic conditions.”27 
As described by Páez (2008), this meant a highly alarming 
situation for the elite once threatened by possible 
diseases. Given the above, all plans contemplated 
leveling the soil while defining a north-to-south gradient 
that improved rainwater circulation and prevented 
flooding. The local edition of El Mercurio summarized 
this vision as follows: 

With the completion of the works indicated in the 

different issues of the [presidential] message, it will 

be possible to put an end, once and for all, to those 

infected slums that formed most of the neighborhood 

mentioned, and we will have transformed that area 

of Valparaíso into a truly modern city, with spacious, 

clean, and well-paved streets, with the levels 

needed to give water a proper exit, with hygienic 

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and well-conditioned buildings, in short, with all those 

elements that can make life within it pleasant and safe.28

This also meant, as mentioned earlier, to relocate poor 
segments of Valparaíso on the city’s outskirts.

In brief, after the 1906 earthquake, Valparaíso was 
reborn from its ruins as a new city, showing a vision of 
the urban that valued certain aspects of the territory over 
others.29 However, this study reveals that the process of 
reviving the ‘sense of place’ that the earthquake destroyed 
does not always translate into an attempt to restore that 
which is lost: it can also be motivated by a desire to build 
something total or partially different. In other words, urban 
destruction presents itself as an opportunity to rethink the 
value not only of the city, but also of its experience and its 
meaning. ARQ

9 «De las Ruinas»   
“Fom Ruins.”  
Fuente / Source: 
Zig Zag N º 82, 9 de 
septiembre de 1906.  
September 9, 1906.

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Notas / Notes

1 National Seismological Center. Universidad de Chile. Important or 
Destructive Earthquakes (1570 to date). www.sismologia.cl

2 It is clear that the number of victims was larger, since there was 
no survey of those affected in rural areas or many other cities. In 
addition, casualties due to influenza or other diseases derived from 
the disaster should be considered. According to calculations, the 
final number of casualties is about 7,000.

3 Em-Dat 2017. The International Disaster Database. Center for 
Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. www.emdat.be

4 The area is usually referred to as ‘the plan,’ due to its flatness; 
however, this term has been avoided so as not to make the debate on 
the different urban plans for reconstruction confusing.

5 This was, at least, the conclusion of experts at the time. See: 
Hormidas, 1907.

6 El Mercurio de Valparaíso. “Informe Oficial del Intendente de 
Valparaíso sobre la catástrofe,” August 20, 1906. El Mercurio 
(Santiago). “El Terremoto en Valparaíso: Llegada del primer correo 
oficial. Testo del parte del intendente Señor Larraín Alcalde,” 
August 20, 1906.

7 For further information on class struggles after the earthquake, see: 
Martland, 2009 and Savala, 2012.

8 El Mercurio de Valparaíso. “La Reunión de vecinos de ayer,” August 23, 
1906 and August 26, 1906.

9 Proceedings from the Comisión General de Vecinos. In Actas de las 
sesiones de la Junta de Reconstrucción de El Almendral. Valparaíso: 
Imprenta de Julio Neuling. 127. See also: El Mercurio de Valparaíso. “La 
Nueva Planta de Valparaíso,” September 18, 1906.

10 El Mercurio de Valparaíso. “La nueva planta de Valparaíso,” September 
18, 1906.

11 Proceedings from the Comisión General de Vecinos. In Actas de las 
sesiones de la Junta de Reconstrucción de El Almendral. Valparaíso: 
Imprenta de Julio Neuling. 119-139.

12 El Mercurio de Valparaíso. “Proyecto de lei para el resurjimiento de 
Valparaíso,” August 25, 1906; “La labor de la comisión de Vecinos,” 
September 1, 1906.

13 Proceedings from the Comisión General de Vecinos. In Actas de las 
sesiones de la Junta de Reconstrucción de El Almendral. Valparaíso: 
Imprenta de Julio Neuling.

14 In fact, many of the leaders of the c g v were not landowners at El 
Almendral. Francisco Valdés lived in Viña del Mar and Jorge Lyon 
Santa María in Concepción Hill.

15 El Mercurio de Valparaíso. “La expropiación de El Almendral,” 
September 11, 1906.

16 La Unión. “El comité de propietarios y el plano de transformación de 
El Almendral del Sr. Claussen,” November 6, 1906.

17 There is no room in this article to delve into the debate on the 
port’s reconstruction works, but it is worth mentioning that while 
the j r was discussing a new plan for Valparaíso, the Port Board 
discussed the future of this port considering for such purpose part 
of El Almendral. However, they did not reach any conclusion and 
the reconstruction of El Almendral continued its course without 
considering the port. For more information, see: Páez, 2008.

18 However, the debate was not about urban planning, but budget. For 
this reason, the c g v plan could not be rapidly accepted.

19 Congreso Nacional de Chile. Sesiones Extraordinarias de la Cámara de 
Diputados. Sesión 1° Extraordinaria de 12 de Octubre de 1906.

20 Additionally, the commission was balanced in political terms: Valdés 
Vergara was liberal; Alejo Barrios belonged to the National Party and 
Lyon Santa María came from a family strongly associated with the 
Conservative Party.

21 Actas de las sesiones de la Junta de Reconstrucción de El Almendral. 
Valparaíso: Imprenta de Julio Neuling. See also: El Mercurio de 
Valparaíso. “El nuevo plano de El Almendral,” January 6, 1907.

22 El Mercurio de Valparaíso. “El nuevo plano de Valparaíso,” September 
28, 1906.

23 Specifically, note the influence of Georges-Eugène Haussmann’s 
Paris Plan.

24 El Mercurio de Valparaíso, September 11, 1906.
25 Moreover, Garnham had presented years earlier a plan to sanitize the 

city focusing on public health.
26 El Mercurio de Valparaíso. “El estado de la ciudad,” October 29, 1906.

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27 Law 1887, December 6, 1906.
28 El Mercurio de Valparaíso. “Los problemas de Valparaíso,” October 

15, 1906. See also: “La Salubridad Pública y la reconstrucción de la 
ciudad,” January 10, 1906.

29 For instance, it is worth noting the scant presence of a discourse on 
building improvements in terms of seismic protection.

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Dav i s , Ian; a l e x a n D e r , David. Recovery from Disaster. Routledge 

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F o u r c a D e , Marion. «Cents and Sensibility: Economic Valuation and 

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h e a l e y, Mark. The Ruins of the New Argentina. Peronism and the 

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m a r t l a n D, Samuel. «Social and Political Fault Lines. The Valparaíso 

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m u m F o r D, Lewis. La ciudad en la historia. Sus orígenes, transformaciones y 

perspectivas. Buenos Aires: Infinito, 1961 [1974]. 

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1906 en la República de Chile. Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Barcelona, 

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s ava l a , Joshua. Contesting Disasters: the 1906 Valparaíso Earthquake, State 

Violence and Working Class Solidarity. A thesis submitted in partial 

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History. Tufts University, 2011. 

t o r r e n t, Horacio. «El suelo en la disputa por la reconstrucción 

urbana de Chillán, 1939» a r q  93 (agosto, 2016): 84-97. 

u g a r t e , Juan de Dios. Valparaíso 1536-1910: Recopilación Histórica, 

comercial y social. Valparaíso: Imprenta Minverva, 1910. 

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Magdalena Gil
<mogil@uc.cl>

Sociologist, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2006. Master 
in Sociology, Columbia University, u s a , 2012. PhD in Sociology, 
Columbia University, u s a , 2016. Is currently assistant professor at the 
School of Sociology and the School of Engineering at the Pontificia 
Universidad Católica de Chile. She is also a researcher at the Centro 
de Investigación para la Gestión Integrada del Riesgos de Desastres 
[Research Center for the Integrated Management of Risk Disaster] 
(c i g i d e N) co N i c y t/f o N d a p/15110017.

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