Elías Canales Díaz and fine carpentry in Valparaíso during the second half of the 20th century

Abstract

For years, Marcela had seen the dedication with which her grandfather, Elías Canales Díaz, worked in his carpentry workshop in Barrio O'Higgins, Valparaíso. Whoever was the inspiration for her, "with the smell of wood", which led her to study Architecture, a tangible heritage that reflects the spirit of its inhabitants. Here is where this noble material, coming from different corners of the planet, came together to raise buildings as beautiful as those of the old continent. Don Elías is part of a generation that lived through what were perhaps the last years of splendor of this city-port in the middle of the 20th century, when with the arrival in Chile of German and Spanish immigrants, entrepreneurs with knowledge and splendid machinery, they established in El Almendral. Upon arrival they see the human potential of the inhabitants of these lofty hills, trained in the constructive tradition of fine work required by hand tools, but adapted to a harsh way of life, demanded by the merit of building buildings on steep slopes. They were not long in training, recognizing the contribution of machines and power tools to their trade, seeing in this process the possibility of becoming "small industrialists"