Casa de los Azulejos - The House of Tiles

Photo: Thomas Ledl, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

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

There is no mistaking this one: three sides of the mansion are wrapped in blue and white tiles from Puebla. The house belonged to the Counts of the Valle de Orizaba, and in 1737 a countess of the family had the facade sheathed in tile, a dazzling display of wealth on the city's main street.

A popular legend offers another reason. A wayward young heir was supposedly told by his father that he would never amount to anything, never build a house of tiles, as an old saying put it. Having mended his ways, he covered his home in tiles to prove the old man wrong. It is a wonderful story, but treat it as just that.

Since the late 1910s the building has been home to Sanborns, a restaurant and store. Walk into the covered courtyard, now the dining room, and look up the main staircase to find the 1925 mural Omniscience by Jose Clemente Orozco, one of his earliest works.

Getting here: Keep walking west on Madero for about two blocks; the tiled building is on your right near the end of the street.

Did you know?: In 1881 the upper floor was rented to the Jockey Club, one of the most exclusive social clubs of the day.

Photo op: Stand on the opposite side of Madero and fit the whole tiled facade, balconies and all, into the frame.

More on Wikipedia: Casa de los Azulejos · Jose Clemente Orozco · Sanborns

Casa de los Azulejos - The House of Tiles

Stops on this tour