“At the meeting of the Municipality of 2nd May, 1525, there was granted to Alonzo de Ávila a portion of the Solar between his house and the Monastery of San Francisco in this City. This house of Alonzo de Ávila stood in the Calle de Relox at the corner of the Calle de Sta. Teresa (where now stands the druggist’s shop of Cervantes and Co.), and this is certain as it is the same house which was ordered to be demolished and [the site] sown with salt, as a mark of infamy, when the sons of Alonzo de Ávila were condemned to death for complicity in the conspiracy attributed to D. Martin Cortés. By the decree of the 1st June, 1574, addressed to the Viceroy, Don Martin Enríquez, he was permitted to found schools on this same site, with a command that the pillar and inscription relating to the Ávilas which was within the same plot, should be placed outside ‘in a place where it could be more open and exposed.’ As the schools were not built on this site, the University sold it on a quit rent (which it still enjoys) to the Convent of Sta. Isabel, to which the two houses Nos. 1 and 2 of the 1st Calle de Relox belong, which are the said druggist’s shop and the house adjoining it, which occupy the site where the house of Alonzo de Ávila stood.
“In addition to this, by the titles of a house in the Calle de Montealegre belonging to the convent of San Jeronimo which the Padre Pichardo examined, it is certain that Bernadino de Albornoz, doubtless the son of the Accountant Rodrigo de Albornoz, was the owner of the houses which followed the house of Alonzo de Ávila in the Calle de Sta. Teresa; and by the act of the Cabildo of the 31st Jan., 1529, it results that this house of Albornoz was built on the land where stood the old San Francisco, which the Municipality considered itself authorised to dispose of as waste land.”
(Duran, vol. ii. ch. lxxx.)
“The Idol Huitzilopochtli which we are describing ... had its site in the houses of Alonzo de Ávila, which is now a rubbish heap.”
(Alaman, Octava Disertacion, p. 246.)
“One can cite what is recorded in the books of the Acts of the Municipality in the Session of 22nd February, 1527, on which day, on the petition of Gil González de Benavides, the said Señores (the Licenciate Marcos de Aguilar, who at that time ruled it, and the members who were present at the meeting) granted him one solar [city lot] situated in this city bordering on the solar and houses of his brother Alonzo de Ávila, which is (en la tercia parte donde estaba el Huichilobos) in the third portion where Huichilobos[[5]] stood. It was shown in the 7th Dissertation that these houses of Alonzo de Ávila were the two first in the Ira Calle de Relox, turning the corner of the Calle de Sta. Teresa, and consequently that the solar that was given to Gil González de Benavides was the next one in the Calle de Relox, for the next house in the Calle de Sta. Teresa was that of the Accountant Albornoz. This opinion agrees with that of Padre Pichardo, who made such a lengthy study of the subject, and who was able to examine the ancient titles of many properties.”
In a note to the 2nd Dialogue of Cervantes Salazar, Don J. Garcia Icazbalceta discusses the position of the original Cathedral and quotes a decree of the Cabildo, dated 8th Feb., 1527, allotting certain sites as follows:—
“The said Señores [here follow the names of those present] declare that inasmuch as in time past when the Factor and Veedor were called Governors of New Spain they allotted certain Solares within this City, which Solares are facing Huichilobos (son frontero del Huichilobos), which Solares (because the Lord Governor on his arrival together with the Municipality reclaimed them, and allotted them to no one for distribution) are vacant and are [suitable] for building and enclosure; and inasmuch as the aforesaid is prejudicial to the ennoblement of this city, and because their occupation would add to its dignity, they make a grant of the said space of Solares, allotting in the first place ten Solares for the church and churchyard, and for outbuildings in the following manner:—Firstly they say that they constitute as a plaza (in addition to the plaza in front of the new houses of the Lord Governor), the site and space which is unoccupied in front of the corridors of the other houses of the Governor where they are used to tilt with reeds, to remain the same size that it is at present.
“At the petition of Cristóbal Flores, Alcalde, the said Señores grant to him in this situation the Solar which is at the corner, fronting the houses of Hernando Alonzo Herrero and the high roads, which (Solar) they state it is their pleasure to grant to him.
“To Alonzo de Villanueva another Solar contiguous to that of the said Cristóbal Flores, in front of the Solar of the Padre Luis Méndez, the high road between them, etc.”