Palacio de Iturbide - A Dowry in Stone

Photo: Jose Luiz, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on Mexico City: Centro Historico Walk, a free self-guided tour.

Look at the tall facade of reddish volcanic stone, framed in pale carved stone and guarded by a tower at each end. This mansion was built between 1779 and 1785 by a rich count as a wedding gift for his daughter. The story goes that he made the house worth about as much as her dowry, so that a free-spending son-in-law could not squander her fortune.

Its name comes from a later resident. In the early 1820s Agustin de Iturbide, the army officer who sealed Mexico's independence from Spain, lived here, and from its balcony he accepted the crown as the first Emperor of Mexico. His empire lasted less than a year. The building went on to many other lives, including more than a century as a hotel.

A bank bought and restored it in 1965, and today it is a cultural center that hosts art exhibitions. If the doors are open, step through and look up at the arcaded courtyard rising floor above floor around you.

Getting here: Continue west on Madero for about two blocks; the palace is on your left.

Did you know?: In the early 1800s, before it became a hotel, the palace housed Mexico's College of Mining.

Photo op: Cross to the north side of Madero and fit the full facade, tower to tower, into one frame.

More on Wikipedia: Palace of Iturbide · Agustin de Iturbide

Palacio de Iturbide - A Dowry in Stone

Stops on this tour