The need for an art collection was recognized from the foundation of the university in 1919 , in large part as an educational benefit to the students . In 1929 , the then rector , Enrique Molina Garmendia , proposed building a gallery , and in the 1950s Tole Peralta , a professor of art , lent impetus to the project . In January 1958 , during the rectorship of David Stitchkin Branover , the university acquired an important collection of more than 500 Chilean paintings from the philanthropist Julio Vásquez Cortés . Construction of the building began in 1963 , now with the additional objective of exhibiting the art to the whole community . The architects were Osvaldo Cáceres and Alejandro Rodríguez , and the building was originally intended to house the administrative offices of the university extension and the Department of Plastic Arts , as well as the art gallery . The site was an open space which had once contained the original university dental school , partly destroyed by the 1960 Valdivia earthquake
1960 Valdivia earthquake
1960 Valdivia earthquake
Casa del Arte