[3] The building began to have problems with the foundations in the late 19th century, caused by a series of earthquakes and winter floods,[5] and as a result had to be demolished in 1900.

[8] The engineer Pedro Palma designed a rebuilding project, but it was not carried out, because the 1906 Valparaíso earthquake destroyed a great part of the city causing a change in the priorities of the government.

[3] In the 1960s, to celebrate a football championship won by the local team, Santiago Wanderers, the intendente Enrique Vicente hosted the first non-aristocratic great party in the building.

[3] On November 30, 1971, during the state visit of Fidel Castro, he gave a speech from one of the balconies to a crowd of people on the Plaza Sotomayor.

[9][3] During the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, which marked the beginning of the dictadura militar led by general Augusto Pinochet, the Edificio de la Intendencia and other government buildings were seized by Navy sailors since early morning, many of whom had returned to the port of Valparaíso after having put to sea the previous day to take part of the UNITAS Operation conducted by the United States.

[3] Shortly after, the building changed hands to the Comandancia en Jefe of the Primera Zona Naval de la Armada.

Until then, the headquarters of the Comandancia en Jefe was located on Prat Street, and only the Guarnición Militar operated on the first floor of the building.

Among them was the journalist Hugo Maldonado, detained on October 4 in La Calera by his connection with sailors opposing the military coup.

[1] The design of the building is eclectic and is based on the French Renaissance Revival style[2] used in the construction of palaces like the Hôtel de Ville, Paris.

The structure is crowned by a mansard roof that overlooks the Plaza Sotomayor, and its center wing contains a facade clock that is topped by a cupola.