Observations on Monterrey

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BY
Observations
STEPHEN
on
FOX
Monterrey
*
street in Borne Anhquo.
A$ A FIRST-TIME architectural tourist, I had
been warned that Monterrey was architecturally uninteresting. Nut I found it fascinating. Judgment depends on expectation, II Guanajuato or S.m Miguel de
Allende is your idea of Mexico, then
Monterrey will disappoint. With the
Above: Gram Picric looking toward the Foio del Comercio, Ihe
Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of Monterrey, and ihe
t
exception ol the small Barrio Anriguo,
wedged between the Macropla/a, the
Palo (io Municipal
Avenida Constitucion expressway, and the
Lall: T h i H views ol l l n Gran Plum
Ojos de Santa l.ueia, Monterrey lacks the
narrow streets bordered by high-walled
casas-patio that define traditional Mexican urban spaces. Kven the westward
extension of downtown, the Zona Centro, toward the Cerro del Obispado, initially laid out in the early nineteenth century, has wide, straight streets lined by
buildings thai differ in height, mass, and
site coverage. Central Monterrey is not a
U.S.-style city (as some have characterized
it); its mixture of buildings and uses is
typical of older Mexican city centers. But
Monterrey is largely a 20th-century city,
with diverse building types and varied
urban spates. It is not disappointing, hut
like Houston, it is not a city of consistent
urban spaces or unified architecture.
THE MACROPLAZA
You see this lack of consistency even in
the central city. Since the l'->K<k the
Barrio Anriguo (historically called the
Barrio de la Catcdral) has been isolated
from the Zona Ccntro to the west by
the Ciran Plaza, or Macropla/.a, as it is
popularly known. The Macropla/.a is
lined with assertive modern buildings of
the mid-1980s that house cultural institutions and governmental agencies. The
eight-btock plaza terminates in front of
the I'alacio de Gobiemo del Estado, the
state capitol of Nucvo Leon, an imposing neoclassical building completed in
1905. Behind it rises the slender Art
Deco tower of the Palacio Federal
(I9.U)). At the opposite end of the
Macropla/.a, at its southern foot, is the
Palacio Municipal of 197T, Monterrey's
city hall. Ihe Palacio Municipal faces
what had been the Plaza Zaragoza,
Monterrey's original phtza de iirtius
before it was stretched northward to
become the \S.K ropla/a.
The scale of the Macroplaza is not
what I had expected, because it is basically a seven-block extension of the oneblock wide Plaza Zaragoza, it is less of a
departure from the small scale of historic
Monterrey than photographs suggest,
l i k e most of the center of Monterrey, it
shows evidence of intensive use.
In terms of design, the Macropla/a is
low-key, especially in contrast to the
flamboyant, gestural designs of the State
( migiesMun.il Offic< Building, the region
al headquarters of the I N I O N A V I T
social housing agency, and the Municipal
Theater lall three by Oscar Bullies Valero
and Benjamin Felix of Monterrey), the
Central Public library (by Jose Angel
Camargo de 1 Ifjar ol Monterrey), and
the State Supreme Court Building (by
Rodolfo Barragan of Monterrey), which
line the run-up to the Esplanade ol 1 Eeroes
in front of the Palacio de (iobierno.
en*
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I
GMIIWIK lioni top led
Gmn Hotel Amira (19171
hnliguo Ptilocio Munkipol (now Mmeo dc
HKm™de Hutvo L»n ISIS. 1853.1887)
BoncD Meiconlil (1901, Allied Gil«]
In Rpinrta 11901 AHied Gil«)
Undominio Acera Monlirtey
11919 Roman Lnmodiidl alorvgade
ihp Antigua Poloda Municipal
Edificio Monterrey (1960. Ritatda Guajntdo
and Aimondo Raviie Rodriguez!
Aveoida Morelos, one block north of
tity. The building is formally austere, con-
Purisima in collaboration with Armando
the Plaza ! lidalgo, used to cross the
structionally specific, and meticulously
Ravize Rodriguez. The church's parabolic
offshoot from the mid-1990s: the Paseo
Macroplaza block. Now the seven blocks
detailed to serve the purposes for which it
vaults are thick folded plates ot rem
dc Santa Lucia by R T K I . of Dallas. The
of Morelos to the west of the Macroplaza
was built.
forced concrete supported1 by a series ol
The Macropla/.a's amiability contrasts with a more obviousl) designed
paseo begins al the Plaza de 4(H) Alios,
are a pedestrian mall. Architectural coun-
one level below the street. This large
terparts of the Ciran I Intel Ancira — the
Ccntro especially attracted my attention:
ing, artfully tapered, stone-faced bell
sunken pla/.a incorporates the ojos, the
stone-built, classically detailed Banco
what was originally the Ldificio
lower displays modernistic touches.
springs ot Santa Lucia, and is the nioiui-
Mercanril (1901) and La Reinera depart-
Financiers Nuevo Leon ( 1970). This nme-
mental forecourt to the Museo de la
ment store (19011, both designed by
story building, located in a low-rise sector
i s m is s t r i k i n g , as is t h e j o )
Historia Mexicans (1996). Another work
Alfred Giles of San Antonio — are the
• a d i e / m i . i < eul t o . is the u i n k . il i h e
w o r k i n g with ordinary materials. The
of Oscar Bulnes Valero, this time in col-
most venerable landmarks along the
dean ot Monlerre\ architects, Lduardo
walls filling the concrete frame are
laboration with the veteran Mexico ( tt\
Morelos in.ill.
Padilla Martinez Negretc. Its north-facing
made of rubble stone and evoke tradi-
glass curtain wall is set back behind a
tional masonry w o r k . The pews were
architect Augusto H. Alvarez, the histor\
Next to La Reinera is a building that
One other modern tower in the Zona
parabolic concrete arches. The free-stand-
I >r la Mora's detei mined regional
In- t o o k
in
museum is boldly scaled but less exagger-
impressed me very much: the Hdificio
delicate exo-skeletal grid ot reinforced
made from the roof beams of the
ated in its composition than the public
Monterrey (19f>0), a M-story office
concrete. Because the cxnskclcton is so
church that previously occupied the
buildings of the 1980s. It also appears to
tower by Ricardo Ciuajardo and the engi-
articulately proportioned, the tapered
site, grounding La Purisima's modernity
have had the advantage of a much higher
neer Armando Ravize Rodriguez. Like
concrete columns and slender beams
in the history of the parish. The almost
construction budget. The Paseo de Santa
other Monterrey skyscrapers ol the 1450s
achieve a fine balance between tectonics
rustic ambiance of the interior is rigor-
Lucia is pleasant, but its suburban timi-
and '60s, the Ldificio Monterrey has a
and decoration. The exposed structure is
ous and austere, but leavened by such
dity, historically thettied picturcsuucncss,
small Moorplate. Il ills tightly on its site,
restrained rather than melodramatic, and
details as the golden onyx panels set in
and general lack of pedestrians seem
a half block framed by two side streets
the problem ot blind party walls was
the concrete frame beneath the entry
more characteristic of North American
that have been turned over to pedestrians.
addressed with wit, flair, and precision.
arch. The critical regionalist attitude
public spaces than Mexican ones.
The ground floor is two stones high, with
The contrast of the glass curtain wall and
implicit in the church reminded me of
two more stories of flush-glazed lease
the blind end walls of glazed green brick
O'Ncil l o r d and Arch Swank's Little
THE ZONA CENTRO
spaces atop. An intermediate floor with a
contributes to the modernist tradition
Chapel in the Woods (1939) in
Downtown in the Zona Ccntro, the street
terrace is recessed, and the remaining ten
lliat I was beginning to interpret as
Denton, Texas.
and block pattern dales from the I Nth
floors rise in a concrete-framed tower,
emblematic of Monterrey.
century, but the buildings are largely from
which contains <. leai plate-glass window
the 20th. The Plaza Hidalgo, which abuts
walls set within bay-sized sunscreens on
AUSTERITY AND RESTRAINT
known private university, Monterrey lee:
the 19th-century Anriguo Palacto
the front (south) face and blind east and
Well 10 the wesi ol the Zona Centra lies
the Institufo Tccnologico y de I'studios
Municipal (the old city ball, now the
wesl sides surfaced with orange-red
what was once Monterrey's most famous
Supcriorcs de Monterrey. "The buildings
Nuevo Leon I listorical Museum), is sur-
Roman brick with raked joints. The
building, ihc Basilica de la Purisima of
that de la Mora designed (again with
rounded by multi-story buildings, man)
building is precisely scaled. 1 he ground
1946, the first modern church building in
Armando Ravize) were completed in l l M~.
De la Mora's work again reminded me
of Lord ar the campus ol Monterrey's best-
of them hotels, including Monterrey's
floor feels monumental at street level, yet
Mexico. It was the first work ot architec-
and their virtues — their conscientious
most famous, the Ciran Hotel Ancira
the building doesn't disrupt the fabric ol
ture in Monterrey Hi be published in the
dedication to constructional and spatial
(1912), a wishful transposition of the
the Avenida Morelos.
international architectural press.
economy, and their willingness not to be
Parisian Belle Lpouue to the skirts ol the
Sierra Madrc.
The Ldilicio Monterrey neatly sums
up the city's modern architectural iden-
The Mexico City architect l.nriuuc
tie la Mora y Palomar designed La
"interesting" —evoke Lord's early buildings at Trinity University in San Antonio,
xt
Gymnasium, Institute teinologiio y de Etludios Superiorn de
Monterrey 1196S, Ricardo- Guajarda).
rated township ol San Pedro Garza
building demonstrates I.egorreta's skill at
Garcia. Since the I9~(ls. San Pedro has
shaping architecture that, unlike the
been where almost everything of conse-
restrained, austere modernism of
quence has happened in metropolitan
Monterrey, responds emotionally to its
Monterrey. It is the middle-class capital
setting (in this case, a plain with the
ot Monterrey and, as Juan Ignacio
Sierra Madre as a backdrop). In a similar
Barragan has demonstrated, it is a model
vein, l.egorreta incorporated circular
lor communities that Mexico's middle
geometry in plan and a sweeping diago-
class longs to construct: governed by
nal in section in the 1994 Bihlioteca
responsive public officials, with well-
Magna of the Universidad Autonoma de
planned, well-maintained public infra-
Nuevo Leon, Monterrey's major public
structure and very few residents who
university. And in a private office com-
aren't affluent. On the surface, San Pedro
pound in San Pedro, diagonally sloped
can seem very North American. Drive
walls laced with yellow stucco gesture
your SUV to a restaurant and you could
insistently toward the Sierra Madre.
be in north Dallas, except that all the
people are speaking Spanish.
A t M o n t e r r e y 'lee the four-story
e.lsiK accessible: M A I U O, the Mliseo de
classroom buildings, called aulas, are
mented San Pedro's transformation from
Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey
simple slabs lined up in rows along a
rural township to metropolitan suburb.
(1991). Commissioned by liugenio Garza
wide, tree-shaded promenade that frames
The process began in I 945, when Alberto
l.aguera, who was then head ot the
distant views of Monterrey's natural
Santos platted its first elite neighborhood.
Grupo Tinanciero Bancomer and the
signum urbis, Saddle Mountain, the M-
the Colonia del Valle. In I 9 4 " , Santos
Tomento T.conomico Mexicano, as well
peaked Cerro de la Silla. The south end
built the first vehicular bridge over rhe
as chairman of the board of trustees of
of the promenade terminates alongside a
Rio Santa Catarina, linking his new sub-
Montcrrev Tec, the museum was built to
classic example til Monterrey mod-
division with the west end of Monterrey,
contain a yet-to-be-assembled collection
ernism, the university's gymnasium of
where such elite neighborhoods as the
o! modern Latin American art, as well as
|9f,S hy Kic.trdo Guaiardo, who began
Colonia Obispado had been developed in
traveling exhibitions. The M A R l l l occu-
Monterrey Tec's school of architecture,
the 1920s and '30s. The Colonia del Valle
pies an entire block front facing the
lee's buildings, I thought, were even
set the standard for larer development in
Macropla/a, next to the Metropolitan
more characteristic of Monterrey than La
Viu Pedro, and by the end of the 1950s,
Cathedral ol Our I acly ol Monterrey and
Purisima. Unpretentious, solidly built,
the suburb's demographics began to
across from the Palacio Municipal. It is
conservatively finished and detailed, with
attract country clubs and private schools
contained on the outside, but complexly
wide, slacked, open air patios, they com-
from Monterrey proper.
sculpted inside, with sectional surprises,
bined constructional integrity with spatial flexibility and generosity.
Tec's original architecture is disarmTop and above:
Eiterinr and interior view! ol the Basiliia de la PuriumrJ (194br
Enrique de la Mora and Armando Roviie Rodriguez).
Juan Ignacio Barragan has docu-
I egorreta's most restrained public
building in Monterrey is also the most
Despite the oscillations of Mexico's
unexpected switchbacks and twists in cir-
economy between the 1970s and 1990s,
culation, and a sequence ol courtyards
San Pedro systematically displaced Mon-
that brings daylight and views our into
ing! v modest and straightforward, espe-
terrey as the center for corporate head-
the galleries. Legorreta's exterior compo-
cially when contrasted with that of the
quarters and I I I M I U retail stores. Montci
sition is powerful and directed. Bur
Qudad Universitaria, the National
rev Tec's new graduate school of business,
MARCO's interior does not seem rigor-
University ol Mexico, built outside
the EGADE, is nearing completion in Valle
iiusK connected to its program. Instead,
Mexico City between 1950 and 1952
Oricntc, a large, master-planned, mixed
11 semis indulgent -
as a sliowplace ol Mexican modernity.
usr development n< ar San Pedro's bordi i
formal sobriety of Monterrey-style mod-
(De la Mora, like most ut the other
with Monterrey, rather than adjacent to
ernism was meant to guard against.
important Mexico City architects, con-
the Tec campus, which is surrounded by
tributed to if.I Monterrey's entrepreneur-
mixed urban neighborhoods.
ial elite founded lee; its sohi r, solid
fust what the stem
ARCHITECTS: IN AND OUT OF TOWN
Such well-known Mexican architects as
buildings reflect what they understood
ARCHITECTURE OF EMOTION
l.egorreta and de la Mora were the excep-
to be their mythic virtues.
The EGADE is the work ol Mexico's
tions in Monterrey, not the rule. Although
most internationally celebrated architec-
one might expect the city's corporations
SAN PEDRO GARZA GARCIA
ture firm, l.egorreta Arqiutccios of
and institutions to commission major
Monterrey Tec is located on the south
Mexico City. Since the earl) |9S(K,
buildings from Mexico's leading architects
side of the Rio Santa Catarina, an inter-
Ricardo l.egorreta has designed one
(which is to say, Mexico City's leading
mittently dry river lined with high-speed,
minor ami one major office building in
archilectsl, litis has not been the case.
limited-access mads that splits Monterrey
San Pedro, two important institutional
Most ut Monterrey's public institutions
into northern and southern halves. The
buildings in Monterrey, and several
and many ol its corporate undertakings
Santa I atarina also divides the west end
houses in San Pedro.
arc' the work ol Monterrey architects.
of Monterrey from its southwestern suburban neighbor, the separately incorpo-
I.egorreta's TCADI is dramatic: a
spiral that encircles a stmii lower. The
Tduardo Padilla Martinez. Negrete
made his mark on Monterrey with large
f
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Entrance lobby ol Ihe Muteo de Arte Contempordneo de Monterrey ( 1 9 4 1 . Legorrela Arquktecfoi).
industrial complexes that he began to
Angelica, north of the Colonia del Valle,
design for major corporate groups in the
demonstrates Pena's ability to project a
1950s. In the 19KOs, the flamboyant
modernist identity that incorporates the
Oscar Bullies Valero and his Grupo KM
street wall, entrance gate, and Street
de Diseno dominated institutional archi-
facing garage door.
tecture. Hulnes's signature work is Tec's
ture produced in Monterrey in the last
Production of 1988, which sits (although
half of the 1990s lias come from the for-
"sits" is surely too static a verb) next to
mer hushand-and-wife team of Cecilia
the Kecton'a at the front of the main
Rangel and lames Maycux. Cecilia
campus.
During the twentieth century, the
*&#".
|
The most singular domestic architec-
Center for Advanced Technology in
Range] is a native of Monterrey; James
Maycux is from the United States. The
out-of-town architects active in Monter-
t w o met in the mid-'80s at the University
rey were most likely to be Texans. Out-
of Texas at Austin, where both had
dill Rowlett Scott designed the American
returned to school as mature adults to
School Foundation of Monterrey in San
study architecture. The house Rangel and
Pedro (1958), 3/D International was the
Maycux built for their extended family in
architect of the Grupo Industrial ALFA's
Colonia Olinala, on the side of the Sierra
Aerial view of Voile Oriente in San Pedro Gnrra Garcia wirh the
low-rise building in the /on.) Cenrro
Madre Oriental overlooking San Pedro,
EGADE ( 2 0 0 1 , legoirera Arquitertoil in lower right cornet.
(1981), the last major corporate office
demonstrates their distinctive approach:
building constructed in the center of
building lightly but articulately in the
Monterrey. AI FA gave up the building
landscape. Their house rules above its
during the economically turbulent '80s
steeply sloping site on thin steel columns.
but kept the company's suburban head-
IK-iks link the street to the upper floor, a
quarters in San Pedro, designed by
11HK u-u- slab on which a glass-walled,
Skidmore, Owings &; Merrill of Chicago.
curved-roofed pavilion looks out over the
ALFA was not alone. In the '70s and
Santa Catarina valley. ISelou this, and set
'80s, many industrial groups built low-
,u a riglu angle in it, is a second houst.
rise headquarters complexes in secure,
occupied by Rangel's daughter and her
park-like settings in San Pedro.
family. Wedged into the hillside anil open
to intensively planted natural terraces, the
HOUSES IN THE SUBURBS
house feels light, spontaneous, and
Domestic architecture provides many
improvised. The upper deck seems to
more opportunities for Monterrey archi-
hover in space, while the bottom nestles
tects than is the case in Houston. Rodrigo
into the mountain.
de la Pens, a graduate of the Architectural Association in London, designs houses
Center lor Advanced Technology in Prodmlion, ITESM (1988,
Onor Bulnes Vnlero and Giupo 103 Diseho).
Armando V. Flores Sala/ar, who
teaches at the Universidad Autonoma de
that are purposefully Mexican and mod-
Nuevo Leon, has focused his research on
ern, in contrast to the highly visible pref-
tin cultural idctitin <>l northeastern
erence in San Pedro for the sort of mon-
Mexico. Although he is the architect of
ster "traditional" houses being built in
the Palacio Municipal of San Pedro
affluent Texan suburbs. De la Pena's
Garza Garcia. I lores b u s in the Colonia
houses are planar constructions of
Obispado in Monterrey in a handsome,
masonry walls, faced wirh white stucco
planar-fronted, flat-roofed, white stucco-
and penetrated by large glass openings
faced modern house that he designed. I le
but configured around patios and walled
cleverly juxtaposed the void of a street-
off from the street, even when they are
lacing carport with the roofless void ol a
free-standing houses. A one-story house
walled front patio to spatially enliven the
in an established neighborhood on Via
house's planar composition. In the more
30
f a I I \ 1 a o i
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2
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American School, San Pedro (195B, Coudill Rowlell Scull).
-..•**>'
Housing, Apodacc.
Valle Oncnip, San Pcdio Gona Caruo. The tallest building i i the l o n e Dolollui ( 7 0 0 0 , Agiiilin landn).
urbanized neighborhood thai the Colonia
quiet street. Here again, not so much in
ogy and historic preservation m Monter-
Obispado became after its fall from grace
the design ol the house as in the deter-
rey: the transformation of historic indus-
in the 1960s, T'lorcs Salazar's modern
minedly informal design of outdoor
trial buildings into museums. The Cerve-
Fundidora, skyscrapers, not smokestacks,
house stands out by virtue ol us serenity
space, one senses a strong parallel to
ceria Cuauhtemoc (189H), a brick-faced
are the prime architectural symbol of
and composure.
Eduardo Padilla Martinez Negrete
A century after the beginnings of
Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc and the
O'Neil l o r d , especially Ford's family's
Victorian Romanesque-style brewery, was
Monterrey's entrepreneurial ambitions.
house, Willow Way, in San Antonio.
designed by the St, Louis architect Ernest
The two tallest have been built in San
( . [anssen and constructed b) the Mofl
I'edro by International Investments, the
Pedro called El Cielo (1988). Although
THE NORTHERN SUBURBS
terrey builder Jose Maria Siller. The
consortium that developed Valle Orienre:
free-standing, El Cielo's high stucco walls
Ricardo Padilla continues to receive the
brewery was the mother industry of
Jorge Loyzaga's 29-story Torre ( omercial
are built to the curb and lot lines. Inside
kinds of commissions on which his
Monterrey. In 1909, it prompted the
America (1995) and Agustin Landa's 43-
ihis enclosure, the house is shaped in plan
lather's practice was built; large industrial
founding of the Vidriera Monterrey, a
story Torre Dataflux (2000). Neither
like an irregular cross, with open-air
complexes located on expansive tracts in
glass company that produced beer bottles
building possesses the tectonic rigor of
patios at the corners of the enclosure.
Apodaca, San Nicolas de los Car/a, and
and eventually became Vitro SA.
the Zona Centro's much shorter sky-
The patios differ in size and character,
other industrial suburban cities that ring
Likewise, in 19.if> the brewery spawned
scrapers ot the '50s and 'fills. Hut the
The focus of the house is a split-level liv-
Monterrey to the north. These articulately
Empaques de Carton Titan, which pro-
Torre Datatlux stands out nonetheless. Its
ing room beneath a skylight; the room's
organized, concisely designed complexes
duced cardboard boxes for the brewery
composition of white concrete piers that
low windows offer views of the most
tend to be big in scale and precise m their
and eventually became the Crupo
slope inward near the top to frame pro-
serene patio on one side, and the narrow-
spatial layout — unlike the working-class
Industrial A L I A . Since 1978, the brewery
jecting bays of dark-glazed office and
est and least vegetated pario on another.
communities that surround them.
has housed the Museo de Motuerrery, the
apartment floors is so sculptural that the
city's lirst major art museum.
Torre Dataflux looks like it's a hundred
designed and lives in a house in San
El Cielo's walls, patios, and openness not
State-subsidized residential neigh-
The I'undidora de 1 ierro y Acero de
stories tall.
to the landscape but to the sky bespeak
borhoods, featuring identical one-story,
the engagement of Monterrey's nmsi
single-family housing units about the size
thoughtful architects with the concept of
of mobile homes, ride the rolling terrain
America, began operation in 190.1 and
cultural identity in the 1970s and 'KOs.
of Apodaca. These are built amidst the
did not cease production until 1995. In
From the winding mountain roads of
Although a modern house. El Cielo's
more typical landscape of popular con-
19Sfi the state of Nuevo Leon and the
Oliuala to the narrow gridded streets o)
introversion and purposeful rusticity
struction and the fluid mixture of uses
federal Department of Urban Develop-
the Barrio Antiguo, from Ricardo
evoke rural |ahsco, where Eduardo
that give Apodaca and San Nicolas their
ment and Ecology formed a public-private
Legorreta to Alfred Cilcs, Monterrey pre-
I'adillo grew up. Its iconography is per-
sprawling intensity. One comes to realize
partnership to transform the bankrupt
sents a range of landscapes and architec-
sonal: a relief over the front door cele-
that this dense, low-rise landscape of
foundry into an arts, trade, and conven-
tural works that are varied, stimulating,
brates don Eduardo's grandchildren,
houses and s m a l l M alt commercial estab
tion center called the Parquc I'undidora.
and provocative. Lacking the glamour,
lishments, interspersed with gated indus-
The site is extraordinary: 2H5 acres
son and occasional collaborator, seriously
trial enclaves, is much more characteris-
in the center of the city, three kilometers
Mexico City, or Guadalajara's sense of
pursued questions of cultural identity in
tic of the suburbs of metropolitan
east of the Zona Centro. To date, the
cultural superiority, Monterrey continues
(he 1990s. Near his lather's house,
Monterrey than the affluent sprawl of
brewery's historic metal and brick build-
to search for an identity. Perhaps it is this
Padilla designed a house for one of his
San Pedro.
Ricardo Padilla, Eduardo Padilla s
brothers. This house is modern yet also
Monterrey, the first steel foundry in Latin
IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY
sophistication, and star-making power of
ings have been reused as the Centro de
sense <>t questioning, doubt, even inferior-
las Artes de Nuevo Leon, with sections
ity, as much as proximity, that allies
Monterrey to the cities of Texas. Like
rusiic, although in this case street walls
SMOKESTACKS AND SKYSCRAPERS
devoted to painting and sculpture, pho-
are dispensed with and the house sepa
Art exhibition is connected to the two
tography, film, and the Museo de la
I louston, Dallas, Fori Worth, and even
rates the rear garden from the narrow.
most notable works of industrial archeol-
Industria y Tecnologia.
San Antonio, Monterrey combines
- • • '
;3fc>
GAIM*
Rongel-Moyeui House, Colonio Olinolo, Son Pedro Gorio
Gordo IRongel-Moyeui Arquilerioi).
Home in Colonio Obiipodo
Gnl»ok induUiinl tomplei. npodor.0 [Hiiocdo Podillo),
(Aimondo V. Floics Solninr).
entrepreneurial energy and cultural ambi-
Special thanks to Arq. J nan
tion with an uncertain architectural
Barragin
Vttlarreal, Arq.
Ignacio
j&
Anayantzin
course, veering between excessive regard
C.otitreras Chio, Arq. Armando
for external opinions and externa! reputa-
Salazar, Arq. Ricardo
tions and a defensive parochialism.
Silverio Sierra
yy
V. Flores
I'adilla, and
Arq.
Velasco.
The efforts of the 1980s and '90s to
retrieve and rehabilitate the old city's
major historical and industrial landmarks, and to construct institutions ot
high culture that signify that Monterrey's
elite is as serious about art as it is about
business, suggest a broader sense of civic
awareness and responsibility. These
efforts were reinforced by the prodigious
activities of Juan Ignacio Barragan and
Ins associates at the Urbis Internacional
research center, as well as A r m a n d o
I'lores Salazar, Ricardo Padilla, and
others at the Universidad Autononia de
Nuevo I,con, w h o documented the history of Monterrey's architecture and urban
development. N o w debates about development, historic preservation, and new
architecture can be more securely
anchored in a historical context.
Monterrey's architecture of the
1990s lacks the precision of its best architecture of the 1950s and '60s. Kut it does
not lack a desire to explore new approaches or reformulate and re I me exist
Snurti v
Barngan Vfllaireal, Juan Ignacio. < intermex
International Business Center, Monterrey: Urbis
lnuTM.knni.il. 1991,
Barragdn VUhurcal, Juan Ignacio. San Pedro
(,.li^.l ( I j r u i : I'.irluil'.hlitll rltiiljtljll.1 y JfSJniltii
:*&<-
tirbano, Monterrey; UrbisInternacional,2000 ••"
miJ revised edition; first published in l<,yn >
. •>
Gtnesii tie tin numiripio de vanguardia: Sent Pedro
tiurzj Garcia).
Barragdji Villarreal. bi.m [^H.ILIO, wnli l uKi'ne
Towle, Manuel ' ampoa Spoor; and Jori Manuel
Agudo. < "•» ."">< de vivitnda m Mexico: bistoria de
Li vhnenda en una Optica eeonantiea v social.
Monterrey: Urbis liKernflcionsJ, 1994,
H.irr.in.in Vill.irn-jl, Juan Ignacio, and I nrique It.
Di.i/ Hi.i/. Annuit'iin* •.!•.I Non'-ac. Sprnal issue uf
rVr NomUde Mexio: numiVrs HI-12, IW2.
Barragan Vill.ure.,1, ]u.ui Ignacio, and Enrique It.
Diaz Diaz, Monterrey v MIS jln-di'doif, ijiiia nr l>t>.
rurismo. Momerreyi I irhis InrernacionaJ, 1991.
I lores Salazar, Armando V. Arquicuhurai modato
para el estudio de la arauitet tttra < onto ctdtutu.
Monterrey: Universidad Autonoma dc Nuevo I eon,
2001,
Flores salazar, Armando V. Calicanto: marcos ad
wr.ilt'i rri L arauitectura Regiotnontanat sigtoi \ V .1/
\ V Mniilt 111 \: I'll fcrsij.ii I Allium un.1 dr Muo'ii
Leon, 1998,
Martin,'/ < 1.117,1. tKtar KJu.irdo. 1 natcnlm out
el Barrio Antigua 1A1 Monterrey Monterrey:
Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo I eon y R.
Ayuntaraictno dc l.i Ciudad dk Monterrey, i'"" 1
J
the same reasons as its Texan counterparts: the e n o r m o u s potential it possesses
and the possibility that this potential may
yet \ leld works of genius. •
hmiuLitioii
of
t
.
-
Podillo Home, Son Pedro Gone Gorao (Riioido Podillo).
mg positions. Monterrey is fascinating lor
Stephen Vox is a fellow of the
i
Anchorage
Texas.
Metropolitan Monterrey.
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