| This
was the house where I was comfortably ensconced from
about June of 1998 until October 2000. The owners, had
retired to the Orlando area to be with their family and watch
their grandchildren grow. This house was their home
in Cuernavaca for more that twenty years, and now, sadly,
they had decided to sell it.
As nearly as I can piece together the
story, the house was built by a New York architect in about
1979, who lived here for only a couple of years. At that time,
the owners were in the process of closing down their real
estate business in Atlantic City. They looked briefly
at a couple of other Mexican cities, but they, like me, had
no trouble deciding on Cuernavaca to settle down. Perfect
weather year round, friendly people, a foreign community said
to be 5000 strong and lots to do.
| I
had a friend over one day to tour the house, Bob V.,
also a Canadian, and he told me that the style was
similar to an architect from Spain named Goudi.
He told me that this Goudi fellow would build houses
from models rather than drawings. Sure enough,
there is an exact scale model of the house tucked
away in the bathroom of the master bedroom.
However, the timing isn't quite right. I think
Bob said that Goudi was working in Spain in the first
half of the 1900's. That leads me to surmise
that this house might have been done by a student
of his, or at least an admirer. |
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Aside from my
assumptions on the origin of the house, it has to
be seen to be believed. It really is one of
a kind! It occupies a corner lot with 1152 square
meters of land and 757 square meters of construction. The
front has the main garage (space for a large van)
with a covered walkway to the kitchen's side door.
To enter through the main door from the street, you
have to stop and take in the main foyer with its two-story
arches, marble, spiral stair case and wrought
iron balustrade. Most people don't even notice
the Palms, Magnolia tree, Bugambilia, Bird-of-Paradise,
and other flowering plants in the front garden. |
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Part way up the
front staircase, to the right, is the passageway to
the bedrooms. I say passageway but
I suppose, technically, it's a bridge. The bedrooms
are completely separate from main house but connected
by this bridge. Underneath, is the corner
of the garden and a Mandarin Orange tree! |
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On the second floor is the master bedroom;
on the ground floor are three smaller bedrooms. Each
of the bedrooms has its own terrace, full bathroom and fireplace
(although the fireplaces are functional, they've never been
used). The view from the master bedroom overlooks the
pool, back garden and most of the valley of Morelos, but more
on that later.
If we go back through the passageway
to the main house, we can tour the dining room and kitchen.
I forgot to take photos of them so you'll have to use your
imagination. The dining room seats 10 comfortably.
It has it own balcony that over looks the back garden and
the valley of Morelos. A huge brass chandelier fills the dome
in the ceiling, centered over the glass and rattan table.
Towards the front of the house, past the pantry, is the kitchen.
More pantry, the oven and stove are accompanied by about 6
meters of stainless steel counter space and double sink.
The kitchen also has an arched ceiling with a wrought iron
framed window at each end. The back door from the kitchen
leads downstairs to the servant quarters; a two bedroom apartment
with its own kitchenette, bathroom and terrace.
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Now, back to the
living room. At the top of the stairs, through
another wrought iron and glass door (and past the
guest bathroom) we enter my favorite room in the house.
Perhaps 10 meters by 5, one long wall has three
French doors that open to the full length balcony.
This is the view I promised to describe earlier. |
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This photo is a little screwy because
a had to stitch five photos together to get it all in.
Unfortunately, I took these photos in mid-June, at the start
of the rainy season so you can't see the mountains and valley.
But, on the far left would be the mountain range that separates
the valley of Mexico from the valley of Morelos. In
the center are the mountains of Tepoztlan, and behind that,
the volcanoes, Itztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl. Further to
the right lies the valley of Morelos, rimmed by another range
of mountains separating Cuernavaca from Yautepec. All
across the foreground lies the city of Cuernavaca, now estimated
to be 2 million inhabitants. Probably 100 nights per
year, some colonia, somewhere in the city, is celebrating
its local fiesta with fireworks. Day or night, this
is one of the best city views I've even seen or expect to
see.
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Below the living
room we find the main terrace. Equal in size
to the living room, columned and beside the pool,
this is the best place to enjoy Cuernavaca's perfect
weather. Legend has it that Barbara Hutton,
heir to the Woolworths fortune, sent out her minions
to find the best climate in the world; they returned
with three recommendations. She settled in Cuernavaca.
This photo is a little screwy
too, I had to stitch together three photos to get
it all in, the balcony on the top floor (outside of
the living room) is really taller than it appears
here.
The pool is fully equipped with
a gas heater (separate tank), filter and pump.
It's about 5 feet deep at the deepest and perhaps
3 1/2 at the shallowest and long enough to do lengths.
Well, short lengths anyway, it's 8 meters by 3.
The pool and terrace area are
capped at each end by more garden. The large,
back garden is shaded by Eucalyptus and Magnolia trees
and tucked in the lower corner are three little banana
trees. |
This final photo was taken from the roof
of the bungalow. The bungalow is a completely self contained
unit with a private entrance, a kitchenette and bathroom.
Below the bungalow is a 2 1/2 car garage.
Not shown in the photos are boring details
of the design of the house. It has 5 tinacos (roof water
tanks) and an oversized cistern for more water storage.
Three gas tanks independently supply the kitchen, bedrooms
and pool with hot water. There is a laundry room by the servants
quarters and another garden behind the bedroom section that
would be perfect for herbs or a small vegetable patch.
As I mentioned at the beginning, this
house was for sale. In early October a young gentleman dropped
in and within three weeks it was sold! Purely by coincidence,
a friend of mine mentioned that she and her husband were hoping
to find someone to look after their house. Fate smiled on
me once again and I was able to move directly from this house
to theirs. When I find the time, I'll do a page on the new
house too!
Doug Hurd, Cuernavaca, Mexico
June 24, 2000
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