Casa de Nariño

Casa de Nariño
North façade of the Casa de Nariño
General information
Architectural style	Neoclassical architecture
Address	Carrera 8° N° 7- 26
Town or city	Bogotá, Cundinamarca
Country	Colombia
Coordinates	4°35′44″N 74°4′39″W / 4.59556°N 74.07750°W / 4.59556; -74.07750Coordinates: 4°35′44″N 74°4′39″W / 4.59556°N 74.07750°W / 4.59556; -74.07750
Construction started	April 9, 1906
Owner	Government of Colombia
Design and construction
Architect	France Gastón Lelarge  Colombia Julián Lombana

The Casa de Nariño (Spanish for House of Nariño) or Palacio de Nariño (Spanish for Palace of Nariño) is the official home and principal workplace of the President of Colombia. It houses the main office of the executive branch and is located in the capital city of Bogotá, Colombia. It was dedicated in 1908 after being constructed on the site of the house where Antonio Nariño was born. The design was made by architects Gaston Lelarge, a French-born former pupil of Charles Garnier, and Julián Lombana.

In 1980, the structure was rededicated after the construction of additions. The building also houses works of art and furnishings from different periods of the history of art. Its garden houses the Observatorio Astronómico de Bogotá, designed by the Capuchin friar-architect Domingo de Petrés and built in 1802-03.

The grand house, located halfway along the first Carrera Street, was bought by Don Vicente Nariño in 1754 for 5,200 “patacones”. There Vicente Nariño and Catalina Álvarez lived with their children for approximately 30 years, until Nariño died. It was then when his wife and children received it in inheritance according to Nariño's will in 1778.

On April 9, 1765, the third of the eight children of the Nariño family was born, Antonio Nariño y Álvarez, one of the Colombian Independence’s national heroes. After the Nariño family, the property was acquired by a number of owners, including the daughter of the former administrator of the Colombian Mint, Doña Juana Inés Prieto y Ricaurte. The first presidential palace from where Simón Bolivar worked after Colombian Independence was the old viceregal palace (Palacio de los Virreyes), located in the west side of Bolivar square of Bogotá in the current position of the Palacio Líevano. On November 16, 1827 one of the most intense earthquakes of the city’s history took place, this left the palace partially destroyed. Because of this, Simon Bolívar authorized the purchase of the San Carlos Palace from Juan Manuel Arrubla, and the transfer of the presidential office and the official residence to that property.