Palacio Cousiño

This guide to Palacio Cousino in Santiago follows Isidora Goyenechea, who finished the mansion alone in 1878 after her husband Luis Cousino died of tuberculosis in 1873, while she ran the family's coal and silver fortune herself. It traces the marble, crystal and silks shipped from Europe around Cape Horn to fill an outwardly plain brick shell, and the private electric generator and elevator she installed years ahead of the rest of the city. Listen for what still survives from the fire that tore through the building in 1968.