A beautiful edifice, open to the public by reason of its use as the principal hotel of the city, is the Hotel Iturbide, the former residence of that short-lived and ill-fated emperor of Mexico. Its interior patio, surrounded by colonnades, is typical of this class of dwelling, and the slender column and symmetry of its arches are such as arrest the visitors' gaze.
Yet another type of public building, remarkable in its solidity and massive beauty, is the great Edificio de Mineria, as it is now termed, being used as a school of engineers, an institution of which Mexico has been justly proud. This fine building dates from the end of the eighteenth century, when the Colonial period was expiring, and it is typical of the severe style of the period. Tolsa, the architect of this and some other Mexican buildings, took his inspiration from Rome and Greece.
The wonders of Mexican Colonial architecture are not monopolized by the capital. We may find in the remote towns examples as remarkable, whether in the great northern towns of the plateau, whether in the States of Oaxaca and Vera Cruz, places where the traveller might pass many pleasing hours, but unknown to the outside world.
A feature of the architecture, or rather decorative scheme, of Spanish American houses, which the traveller will not fail to note, is that of the use of colour on the exterior. This, however, is not employed on the well-built or stone structures, but mainly on those of the plastered adobe dwellings of the lower middle and poorer classes, although old Government palaces and public buildings often have a wash or tint over their faces. Architraves of painted blue or red, panelling in orange, generous rose-tints over the whole façade are to be seen, especially in the smaller towns and the villages.
This custom of exterior house painting is, of course, from Spain and the Moors. Whilst it may be objected to as being gaudy, nevertheless it is often pleasing and picturesque, relieving the drab aspect of the streets. The adobe wall is, naturally, plastered with some material, lime or in some cases—as at Oruro—kaolin, thus presenting a smooth surface for the colour. The colour material may be paint, or, generally, a kind of "distemper" or wash.
The effect is an unfamiliar one to the English or North American traveller, accustomed to the severe and colourless aspect of his own streets, but looking along these Spanish American thoroughfares or highways and byways of the towns—which are often the framing for a distant picture of a far-off Cordillera, blue in the distance, or a snow-capped peak, or a piece of tawny desert—the colour scheme is rather an added element in the general effect.
We find this custom largely in Mexican towns, in Central America, in Peru, Bolivia and the Cordillera generally—in brief, almost everywhere.
CHAPEL OF THE ROSARIO, MEXICO.
Vol. II. To face p. 266.