Arica House of Culture
General information
Location	Arica
Country	Chile

The Arica House of Culture (Spanish: Casa de la Cultura de Arica), also known as Former Arica Custom House, is a building located in Arica, Chile. Designed by Gustave Eiffel's company, it was built between 1871 and 1874, prior to the annexation of Arica by Chile. The building was declared a National Monument of Chile on November 23, 1977, within the category of Historic Monuments.^[1]

The 1868 Arica earthquake destroyed the earlier custom house, which was built on the same site. As a result, in 1871 the then Peruvian president José Balta commissioned Gustave Eiffel's company to design a building to serve as a custom house, which was inaugurated in 1874.^[1][2] It is a prefabricated building whose components were brought from Paris.^[3] The building survived the tsunami of 1877.^[3]

Following the Battle of Arica during the War of the Pacific, Arica came under the control of Chile, but the building continued operating as a custom house until 1977, and in 1991 it was converted into a cultural center.^[2][4]

A renovation project was completed in 2020, which included structural repairs.^[4]

Built in the Neo-classical style, the building has a roughly rectangular plan. The exterior walls are made of bricks brought from France, reinforced with ashlar columns. The building consists of a two-story central section with flanking one story wings.^[2] The roof structure and the interior columns are made of metal.^[1]

18°28′38″S 70°19′16″W / 18.47714°S 70.32110°W / -18.47714; -70.32110