Following the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, the Inmobiliaria San Luis acquired the palace, subdividing it into several stores for rent, damaging the building. In 1981 it was purchased by Inmobiliaria Maullín —owned by Raúl del Río—. The building was declared a National Monument of Chile in 1974, losing this designation the following year, and then declared again a National Monument in 1981, when it already was in a deplorable state of neglect. Its ruined status worsened with the 1985 Algarrobo earthquake.