Borda House, Mexico City facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Borda House |
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Casa Borda
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Facade of the Borda House
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | New Spanish Baroque |
| Construction started | 1775 |
| Client | José de la Borda |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Francisco Antonio Guerrero y Torres |
The Borda House is a famous building in the historic center of Mexico City. It is located on Madero Street and Bolivar Street. This house once belonged to José de la Borda. He was a very rich Frenchman who lived in New Spain (what Mexico was called back then) in the 1700s.
The Borda House is special because of its amazing design. It has cool sculpted stone details on the ground floor. The original building was so big it covered an entire city block! It had many inner courtyards. José de la Borda even had a unique iron balcony built around the whole building. This balcony was supported by angles shaped like rooster feet. You could walk all the way around the building on the outside!
The Original Grand Mansion
This huge mansion was built as a gift for José de la Borda's wife, Teresa Verdugo y Aragonés. They had been married for 16 years. Borda wanted his house to be as grand as the one owned by Hernán Cortés, a famous Spanish conqueror.
The house was built near an old monastery and the Palace of Iturbide. The most famous architect of that time, Francisco Antonio Guerrero y Torres, designed it. The original building covered a whole city block. Today, these streets are known as Madero, Bolivar, 16 de Septiembre, and Motolinia.
The mansion had three floors. Its walls were covered in red tezontle rock and grey-white sandstone. Near the main entrance, there was a large space with a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The original building also had two floors with iron railings. These railings wrapped around the entire building on the second and third floors.
Inside the Borda House
The inside of the Borda House was incredibly fancy. It had:
- A huge library
- Four dining rooms
- 25 sleeping rooms
- Three kitchens
- Two stables for horses
- Three offices
- Two chapels for prayer
Everything inside was decorated with expensive items. There were beautiful carpets, heavy curtains, paintings, and fine porcelain. You could also find many clocks, sculptures, and richly carved furniture.
The Borda House Today
Over many years, the large Borda mansion was split up. Most of it was torn down. Today, five parts of the original building remain. Four of these parts still have the original front and double balcony.
The building at 28 Bolivar Street is now the Hotel Coliseo. Its front was built in the early 1900s. But the lower inside part is still from the original Borda House.
In the early 1900s, the part at 33 Madero Street was home to the Salón Rojo. This was one of the first movie houses in Mexico City. Salvador Toscano first created it. Later, German Camus reopened it and added an electric escalator! In the 1950s, it became a fancy carpet store. After that, it was a post office.
Later in the 1900s, the Santander Serfin bank bought part of the building. They used some of it for the Serfin Museum. This museum showed a small collection of old clothes. These included clothes from native groups and colonial times. The museum had a special "dictionary" to explain the meaning of different designs in the clothing. Sadly, this museum closed a few years ago.
The only part of the original building that still has all its 18th-century interiors is at 26 Bolivar Street. All the other parts were torn down, leaving only their fronts. In the early 1900s, this part housed the Harem Baths. You can still see a tile picture of Neptune in the stables courtyard from that time. Around the year 2000, the Yturbe family completely fixed up and saved this part of the building.
See also
In Spanish: Casa Borda para niños
