Mexico City Architecture Tour - Roma and Condesa - Context Travel

Tour Details

About the Tour

Category: Architecture, Orientation
Duration: 3 hours
Location: Mexico City

Photos & Highlights

Learn how architectural masters like Barragan, Buenrostro and Serrano fit into the global architectural tapestry
Gain an understanding about the Mexico City of today, its opportunities and challenges such as rebirth after earthquake damage
Roma Neighborhood, Condesa Neighborhood, Parque Mexico, and Roma Market

Tour Description

Nowhere captures the architectural splendor and variety of Mexico City quite like Condesa and Roma. Located on either side of Avenida Insurgentes, these neighborhoods were some of the hardest hit with recent earthquake damage, though they continue to transform into the city’s hottest energetic enclaves. On this three-hour architecture tour, we'll survey Condesa and Roma districts with an expert as we encounter Mexico’s most celebrated Art Deco, Art Nouveau, and Modernist buildings and stroll charming green parks, galleries, and even former indigenous settlements.

"[Our guide] was a terrific guide, explaining the architecture, history, and social trends in these two fascinating neighborhoods. We had no idea how much damage was caused by the earthquakes. We stayed after the tour and toasted Context Travel while staring at Michelangelo's David!”

Mexico City Architecture Tour: From Bauhaus to Barragan

We’ll meet our expert guide in Condesa, one of the first parts of Mexico City’s expansion in the early twentieth century and known for its nationalistic Art Deco buildings, built at a time when Mexico was fighting for an identity on the global stage. We’ll see impressive examples of Francisco J. Serrano’s and Ernesto Buenrostro’s structures were built during the 1930s and ’40s along with the outdoor theatre named in Charles Lindbergh’s honor for his 1927 visit. We’ll have a chance to view an early Barragan home and compare it with his more notable work. Our guide will discuss the area’s growth during the height of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema as well as the shock effect of recent earthquakes.

Note: As a custom itinerary, we can create a full-day Luis Barragan Tour for you with a Barragan expert and architect.

Roma and Condesa Architecture Tour

We’ll leave swanky Condesa behind as we continue to its grittier hipster cousin, Roma. Originally renowned for its French Art Noveau architecture, it only recently has been rediscovered as a destination worth exploring thanks not only to the Oscars but also to a host of creative, entrepreneurial minds which gave rise to its unique character. We will visit gourmet Roma Market for a beverage and break to discuss the politics, economics, and lifestyle trends that are making Mexico City the attractive metropolis that we see today. Our expert will then show some must-see spots along Alvaro Obregon and Parque Rio de Janeiro. Time permitting, we may make it to the oldest part of the neighborhood La Romita, a town-within-the-city that during the colonial era was an indigenous settlement complete with a 16th-century church. Here is an excellent place to take in street art and make our conclusion about the nature of gentrification and sustainable growth in the city as a whole as it enjoys its blossoming cultural rebirth.

Want to learn more about Mexico City’s artistic legacy? Try our Frida Kahlo Tour.

FAQ

Where does this walk end? This walk typically ends in the Roma neighborhood. Your expert can point you in the right direction of your next destination.

I’m not an architectural enthusiast. Will I enjoy this tour? We think so! Although the focus is on architecture, we use buildings as a way to explain the social, political, and economic trends facing the city in general, so it’s a great tour to give you an overall impression of what Mexico City is today and might be tomorrow.

Where You'll Start

Tour Experts

Julio

Born and raised in Mexico City, Julio Pastor is a proud pedestrian of his native city. He completed a BA in Fine Arts at UNAM. In 2008, he moved to the Netherlands where he completed his MFA, specializing in the Urban Landscape. After seven years, he returned to Mexico and turned the focus of his art production to the city that he roams every day. His art production is thoroughly inspired on what he encounters during his everyday walks, but also by a great deal of reading on topics related to architecture and urbanism. When not working at his art practice, Julio can be found teaching undergraduate drawing courses in the architecture department at the Universidad Iberoamericana, or enjoying the city with his wife and two children.

Diego

Diego is a Mexican architect born in Mexico City. He studied at the Universidad Iberoamericana and spent a year studying abroad in the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, where he focused on the History of Architecture and Bioclimatics. As his professional internship, he participated in the construction of Mexico City’s highest skyscraper, Torre Reforma, as well as in the development and design of new areas in Bosque de Chapultepec. Currently, he divides his time between his work as a Context guide and as a member of one of the country’s top architectural design firms. Diego is known to be an avid city explorer. He is street smart with a great knowledge of the different areas in town. He has a great passion for culture, history, art, architecture, and food and he hopes to answer questions and enhance the experience of Mexico City for visitors.

Santiago

For Santiago, the architecture of "Centro Histórico" was the first thing that captured his attention. As a kid he would go there with his grandmother every weekend and visit a new building or museum every time. It quickly became a hobby to do the same thing all over the city. In no time, he had finished his degree in architecture, with an emphasis on history, and decided to turn his hobby into a career. Since then has enjoyed getting to know new people everyday and passing on the passion he feel for his native Mexico City.