When its location was known, the dictatorship changed the original numbering that designated the property, to number 40. Thus, the numerous complaints made began to point, from that moment, to a non-existent address.
In 1978, the Augusto Pinochet regime transferred the property of the house to the O’Higginiano Institute, an organization very close to the Chilean army and which was directed by Washington Carrasco, who was head of the Army and Pinochet’s defense minister.
After the return of democracy, in 1990, the Concertación governments made no effort to recover the property, and the Socialist Party, which had been the last owner of the space, accepted compensation in 2005, thereby renouncing the ransom.
In July of that year, the London 38 Collective asked the Chilean National Monuments Council to declare the place as a National Monument in the Historical Monument category, which was accepted in October.
The present: a space for memories
In London 38 – now London 40 – the bells of its neighbor, the Church of San Francisco, can still be heard tolling, the same bells that the victims who passed through this residence heard and that allowed the survivors to recognize the place where they were detained .
As part of the space’s work, it has developed an oral archive in audiovisual format that in its pilot phase included 23 testimonies from relatives of the victims and survivors who remained detained in London 38.
The space can currently be visited for free from Tuesday to Friday.
The experience of visiting this place begins on the sidewalk. There are cast iron plaques with the names, militancy and ages of the 94 people known to have been murdered in this detention center. Some were as young as 19 years old. This memorial was inaugurated in October 2008.
On the façade of the building, the two numbers that the property had, 38 and 40, are preserved as a testimony of the concealment attempt made by the dictatorship.
In the place, most of the walls are bare, but there are signs that indicate the use that was given to the rooms.
In the main room, there is a gallery of the victims who went through this detention center.