Carlos von Moltke was born on May 12th, 1841 in Rendburg (Holstein), but it was in Kopenhagen, political and intelectual capital of Denmark, where he studied architecture and engineering, before coming to Chile in 1868.

In Santiago de Chile, he was recognized for the beautiful palaces and important state buildings he constructed; but in 1881 he moves to Valparaiso, where he becomes known as one of our great architects (of those times). Some of his main edifications were the Valparaiso Naval School, nowadays an important museum, and don Santiago Lyon Santa María’s palace, named national monument in 1979. Besides this, during his life in the port, Von Moltke gets a piece of land in the corner of Montealegre and San Enrique in Cerro Alegre, where he builds the house we can now admire.
Seven years later he sells this property to Jorge Ross Innes and moves back to Santiago to work in public affairs until his retirement in 1907. This same year von Moltke is recognized by the press as the ‘Best Civil Engineer’. In 1910, he moves with his family to Buenos Aires, and stays there until his death.