House of Bord

Brief information

The Borda House once occupied an entire city block, but today it reads as a set of surviving parts. This rupture matters more than a simple construction date: the original mansion of José de la Borda was conceived as a large urban complex with inner courtyards, not as a single facade on the corner of Madero and Bolívar streets.

Five sections remain from the former house. Four of them have preserved the original facade and double balcony, but only the section at 26 Bolívar has retained its 18th-century interiors. Therefore, the Borda House should be understood not as an intact palace, but as a fragmented building in which the outer shell and the authentic inner part have survived unevenly.

What to notice first

The main focus is to compare the facade, the balcony, and the traces of later alterations. On the ground floor, the sculptural stone decorative details are important: they show that the house was designed to be read attentively from the street. The materials also support this effect: red volcanic tezontle was combined with gray-white sandstone, so the building’s surface was built on a contrast of color and texture.

The double iron balcony was not merely a decoration. It encircled the original building at the level of the second and third floors, so one could walk around the house from the outside; the rooster-foot-shaped corners emphasized this continuous line. At the section at 26 Bolívar, another trace of use was added to the old house: a tile panel with Neptune recalls the harem baths that were located here in the 20th century.