5 old mansions to remember old Mérida

Some of Mérida’s old mansions have been dusted off from oblivion to tell us their story and the nostalgia of an architecture crumbling in the hands of time.

Mérida is a city that stands out for its culture and history, reflected on every corner, in every dish and tradition.

It is no secret that there was an era of architectural splendour — a time when visitors arrived by carriage to enjoy the most modern and ostentatious buildings of the day.

From weary colonial-era buildings like San Idelfonso Cathedral to more modern constructions, Mérida’s architecture is and has been enriched by trend-setting currents.

Mérida is home to an architectural legacy that adorns the city’s most important avenues and neighbourhoods, and gives it the chance to surprise tourists with the stories of love, abandonment, collapse and renewal that each building has to tell.

Casa Montejo

This majestic mansion dates from the 16th century, when it was built to house the Montejo family, conquerors of Yucatán and the south of the peninsula.

Read: Francisco de Montejo, the name heard across the city.

One of the features that represent this old mansion’s life is its balcony, or façade. The façade has been the subject of mysteries and research into the meaning of the carved figures. If you visit, you’ll notice the corbel of children who seem to be screaming or laughing, the horns and some mythological animals like satyrs.

Today part of the interior is a bank; the other half is a museum. Through its furniture from the late 19th century, the house recounts events remembered by its oldest walls.

Palacio Cantón

The Palacio Cantón is one of the most majestic old mansions in the whole city. It is the result of a great era of prosperity in Yucatán in the early 20th century, when the henequen industry was booming.

At the Palacio Cantón, a lavish voice greets you at the door. The mansion invites you to walk its large halls where the most ostentatious details are out of reach of hands and even mortal eyes. Don’t forget to call it a Palace — it dislikes the term “mansion”.

The wealth into which this mansion was born made way for new French-influenced architectural trends. It belonged to the governor of Yucatán, Francisco Cantón Rosado, and was designed by an Italian architect named Enrico Deserti.

Its doors are open to the public, and inside is the Regional Museum of Anthropology of Yucatán, where you can admire the state’s art and history and reach the most special corners of what was once a house proud of its bearing.

Haciendas in Yucatán.

Quinta Montes Molina

Today the old Quinta Montes Molina is reserved for events, but it reminds us of an old Mérida in which the city’s eclectic architecture was meant to be lived in.

Don Aurelio Portondo y Barceló and his wife Josefa de Regil lived here. They first named the house “Villa Beatriz”, in honour of their late daughter.

Did you know the architects in charge of this property were the same ones who designed and built the Peón Contreras theatre?

The house changed its name when it was bought by Avelino Montes, one of the most prominent businessmen in Yucatán’s history, who built a fortune thanks to the henequen industry.

El Pinar

Although this mansion is not open to the public, it is a landmark in the city.

It is a mansion that stands apart not only for its size and unusual pink colour, but also for the mysterious solitude that wraps and rejuvenates it despite the years.

For many years the residence known as El Pinar was abandoned, but in the early 20th century a restoration project began, trying to preserve the original details of its architecture.

Today it is a private residence, admired by tourists who sadly only see its splendour through the bars that protect it.

Read: Paseo de Montejo: walking over the soul of Mérida.

El Minaret

El Minaret, like other old mansions in central Mérida, now serves as a venue for all kinds of events.

Its architecture has a neoclassical influence, and the details of its construction were the work of engineer Miguel Medina Ayora, who tried to keep the French residential style of the era.

Mansions of this kind have a basement — an element only found in these residences, meant to protect the inhabitants and valuables from possible flooding.

If you’re considering visiting Mérida, we recommend a walk along the whole Paseo de Montejo to admire the great variety of styles in the 19th- and 20th-century mansions of the White City.