"[3][4] For this purpose, Ross Edwards bought Fundo Pichilemu, a farm, from Juan Esteban Torrealba Maturana in 1885.

[5] Afterwards, Agustín Ross installed amenities such as a laundry,[2] stables, and stairways, among others, according to local historian José Arraño Acevedo,[3] turning Pichilemu into a summer resort town for affluent people from Santiago and Mendoza, Argentina.

[5] According to Washington Saldías González, editor of Pichilemu News, the construction of the building lasted from 1906 to 1909,[3] while Jorge Godoy Rojas, architect of the University of Chile, states that it was built between 1904 and 1906.

[7] After its opening, the building included a post office with telegraph service and a store for imported goods,[3] exclusive to clients of the Gran Hotel Pichilemu.

[8] The National Monuments Council asserts that the first casino in Chile was opened in the building in 1906;[2][9] however, historians Antonio Saldías and José Arraño Acevedo have pointed out that it was inaugurated as a de facto casino in the summer of 1917,[10] after Agustín Ross rented the building to Argentinean businessman Alfredo Master.

"[3] The building would finally be purchased in 1995 by Mayor Orlando Cornejo Bustamante with the support of the Pichilemu City Council, then composed of Aldo Polanco Contreras, Jorge Vargas González, Mario Bichón Cáceres, Mariano Polanco Galarce, and Raúl Tobar Pavez,[15] for 30 million pesos (approximately US$60,000).

[2] After the former casino was purchased by the government of Pichilemu, the building was used to hold meetings, exhibitions of paintings, sculptures, theater, and for launching books.

[1] On 14 February 2007, the Regional Secretary (Seremi) of the Ministry of Public Works, Beatriz Valenzuela, wrote in an article in the online newspaper El Rancahuaso, "The current state of the historic monument is bad, because of the deterioration of the roof, which over the years has had permanently leaked water and humidity.

[6] The center's inauguration was supposed to take place in March of that year, with President Michelle Bachelet Jeria in attendance;[21] however, it was postponed until 27 January 2010.

[29] The library was previously located in a dedicated building on Santa María Avenue from 1989 until 16 January 2009,[29] before relocating to the Centro Cultural Agustín Ross.

[32] Jorge Godoy Rojas, architect of the University of Chile, suggested in a January 2007 article he wrote for the online newspaper El Cachapoal that a semi-autonomous legal entity be set up for the management of the cultural center.

Of the seven directors of the corporation, two are elected, two are appointed by the Pichilemu City Council, and another two by the regional or provincial government, and the mayor presides as the seventh member.

During the restoration of the building, in December 2007, it was reported that "two great walls constructed with flagstone, very wide and very close together" were found, but nothing was confirmed afterwards.

[35] Before the former casino building was completed, in 1908, Agustín Ross Edwards and Evaristo Merino reported to historiographer José Toribio Medina the existence of indigenous remains in the cave now called the Gruta de la Virgen.

[36] American writer Trudy Larkin Forster wrote the book Los Gatos del Casino: la Historia de Don Agustín Ross Edwards y la Brigada de los Gatos Negros (The Cats of the Casino: the History of Sir Agustín Ross Edwards and the Brigade of the Black Cats) in 1999.