Consistently ranked among the world’s top places to visit, Mexico City is a global capital that welcomes more than 12.5 million visitors each year for its renowned cuisine, vibrant culture, rich history and unique neighborhoods, like the Roma and Condesa neighborhoods popular with Mexico City’s trendy creative class. The area overflows with diverse dining options and varying architectural styles and bold design.
A century ago, the La Romita neighborhood was a wealthy enclave of grand mansions. These days, its neoclassic, beaux arts and art nouveau-style buildings, squares and tree-lined boulevards abound with restaurants, galleries, bars, foodies, artists, eclectic bed and breakfasts and more.
Located in the vibrant Colonia Roma area, Ignacia Guest House is an exclusive bed and breakfast with just nine suites. It unites Mexican artisan tradition, history and contemporary design, and the restoration of this 1913 mansion celebrates the personality of Ignacia, the mansion’s housekeeper for more than 40 years.
Interior designer Andrés Gutiérrez, in partnership with construction firm Factor Eficiencia, finished restoration of Ignacia Guest House in February 2017. Originally occupying half of the Porfirian mansion, Ignacia Guest House contained a primary suite, hall, library, dining room and kitchen in the historic building. Then there were four rooms, each with its own balcony or terrace, in the garden area. With terraces and a harmonious chromatic palette, each guest room’s environment is in balance with the entire complex.
All the spaces incorporate Mexican design, with references reminiscent of pre-Hispanic pictographic documents of Mexica origin-spheres, tabs and circular perforations that are subtly integrated into classic French architecture.
ADDITIONAL RENOVATIONS
Utilizing the COVID-19 lockdown to continue to renovate and upgrade, Ignacia Guest House expanded the exclusive bed and breakfast — blending history, Mexican artisan tradition and contemporary design with the addition of four new rooms and outdoor spaces.
Two rooms have been restored in the original house, and two rooms have been newly constructed in the terrace; they share a common outdoor space adorned with fireplaces and a jacuzzi framed by treetops.
Again, Gutiérrez and Factor Eficiencia spearheaded and conceptualized the renovations. The Ignacia Guest House, standing in the heart of Mexico City, embodies a dual character: a French-style mansion with moldings and woodwork reminiscent of Paris, and the Mexican essence of its caretaker Ignacia.
These two distinct worlds combine to create an eclectic design where blocks of color build a common thread and provide a warm, comfortable ambiance for guests.
HISTORY OF THE NAMESAKE
Ignacia was born around 1914 in Guerrero and arrived in Mexico City in the late 1920s to work in the estate house. She first helped with the cleaning, then began caring for the children, eventually becoming the head housekeeper until the year 2000, at which time she moved with the family that she worked for so many years to an apartment in the south part of the city.
Her imprint is still alive in the building; like a character in a Pita Amor poem, Ignacia enjoyed the house as her own — and in the end, it practically was.
