Architectural Odds and Ends

While walking back from the Museum of Popular Art last week, I took some photos of buildings that caught my eye.

Artículo 123 Street, the edge of the Historic Center is a street of older, somewhat rundown buildings.  The entire facade of this structure has served as a canvas for a street artist.  On Google Maps, I learned that "La Paisana" on the ground floor was a restaurant that has permanently closed.

Farther down the street, at the intersection with busy Bucareli Avenue, a new high rise building is being constructed.  There were no signs identifying the project, so I don't know whether the completed building will house apartments or offices.

Along the same block, I noticed this building, which I would guess dates back to the 19th century.  A newer structure was built next to and over it... something that is not an uncommon sight here in Mexico City.  As I passed by, I could see that a renovation of the older structure is being done inside.

Artículo 123 runs into the Paseo de la Reforma, the city's most famous boulevard.  Just off the Paseo is a building project that I have mentioned before.  The 50-story residential and office tower, "Be Grand Reforma", appears to have reached its height of 679 feet, making it the seventh highest building in the city.  The opening of the building is planned for later this year.

Although the Paseo de la Reforma is now lined with modern skyscrapers, there are still some elegant buildings which date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  The Hotel Imperial was opened in 1904.

Just down the street is another hotel that dates back to an earlier era, the Hotel Emporio.

This building probably was one of the mansions which once stood along Reforma.  Today it is a branch of Scotiabank.

Another mansion along the boulevard was the Casa Gargollo.  The Gargollo family went bankrupt after the Mexican Revolution and was forced to sell their home.  It was bought by the University Club, an exclusive social club of university graduates from Mexico, Great Britain and the United States that was founded in 1905.  The building still serves as their headquarters.  Just behind the old building, a new residential tower, called University Tower is under construction.  It is scheduled to be completed this year, and will be just behind "Be Grand Reforma" (665 feet high) as the eighth tallest building in Mexico City.