Villa Y

An Architectural Melding

This past-meets-present home in the Hipódromo Condesa neighborhood was originally built in the 1930s and has been updated by Estudio Estudio, a collaborative architecture and design research practice.

The three-level residence retains much of its authentic character, including ornamental elements that were found during its renovation and meticulously restored. Bygone era details include the home’s notable curving doorways and arched spaces and the replicated checkered kitchen tiles in pigmented concrete known as pisos de pasta.

The ground level is dedicated to the home’s common areas—entry, office, kitchen, dining and service rooms centered around a soaring living room library with 5.9-meter ceilings. The curving staircase leads to the three upstairs bedrooms (two kings, one with two single beds), each with an ensuite bath, plus a more casual living room.

A newly crafted creative studio and rooftop terrace occupies the home’s third level, a former storage space. Built of pine, with an onsen room next to the studio space, the rooms open to a terracotta terrace that doubles as a rainwater collection system connected to a reservoir on the patio below. Sweetgum trees shade the deck, and the 70sqm studio has its own bathroom.

Around

Home to Mexico City’s elite since the early 20th century, La Condesa is a vibrant Mexico City neighborhood with a rich cultural history. Art Deco architecture and Art Nouveau mansions line most streets giving the area a European feel, and the neighborhood is also home to several parks—Parque México, Parque España—plus dozens of leafy squares and aristocratic courtyards. Its abudance of green spaces has made it the neighborhood for dog-walkers, runners, and dogsitters, and most parks have canine zones to welcome the pooches.

Sidewalk cafes and restaurants join lower key taquerias and tabernas join trendy boutiques along the neighborhoods busy streets, and by night the area fills with young professionals and hipsters, who gather at bars and nightclubs. A great base for exploring greater Mexico City, La Condesa has bohemian origins—this section of the city rose in fame as the preferred stomping grounds of artists and intellectuals during the Mexican Revolution. The property is in Condesa’s Colonia Hípodromo, one of three smaller subdivisions that make up the entire neighborhood. Avenida Amsterdam has a leafy median at its center, and is a great spot to take in the area’s classic architecture. And the vast Bosque de Chapultepec is right next door.

Location

Nearest airport: Mexico City (30 minutes)

Best time to visit

March to November