Conde de Regla Palace

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The Conde de Regla Palace is another one of those giant, gnarly, City-Center buildings that international visitors gawk at. This is even as most City residents simply take them for granted. It’s a residential building that hasn’t entirely survived the ravages of history. That we can know anything about it is one of the pleasures of simply walking by.

Some part of the property began as a convent school for sisters of The San Bernardo Complex. This was once much larger. A philanthropist, Pedro Romero de Terreros, later bought the house and thoroughly redesigned it. Romero added giant sitting rooms, children’s rooms, libraries, and gardens. Most of what we see today is from that 1768 remodeling. Romero de Terreros had purchased the property in 1746.

The first Count of Regla, Pedro Romero de Terreros is best known today for having begun the Monte de Piedad. A mining magnate, he also owned a large ranch in the area of what is today Metro El Rosario in the City’s northwest.

As one of the most powerful and richest men of the late 18th century, Romero de Terreros ordered the building of a magnificent Baroque palace. The building stood out then for the special interest the Count took in decorating each of its spaces and rooms. Known in its time as the “House of Silver,” it was said to have been decorated throughout with the Count’s premier product.

By 1928, the building was adapted to function as an apartment building with businesses on the ground floor. An engineer, Francisco Cortina García conserved first floor but added another above. Much of the interior construction was demolished. A three-story building was built within the shell of the former palace. The new building also finally converted the street level windows to doors for the commercial spaces on that level.

Although one can’t see much more than the occasionally opened businesses still operating here, trips to the Palace of the Conde de Regla are still fruitful. It’s simply a magnificent façade to gaze upon, and leaves a lot for the imagination to call up.  The Tejada Library, right next door, offers an over-the-top Baroque façade. For the truly devoted, the Chancellery Museum is just one more door down.