This is so cool! So I knew that the Casa was previously the home of famous mexican artist Jose Clemente Orozco, and that the meditation room where the Quaker meeting now meets was his studio, a beautiful high ceiled room with a huge window on the north wall. But what I didn't get until I asked Bernardo (our landlord and friend who is an architect and good family friend of Alberto) to come take a look at the leaking ceiling in the conference room and the facade out front that is beginning to spit out tiles and separate from the foundation wall, is that the Casa was built for Orozco by his friend Luis Barragan, which means it's protected by mexican art and culture institutions.
"Oh, that's cool," I said when Bernardo explained, not having any clue who this guy Barragan was but wanting to sound appreciative.
"That's like saying it's a Frank Lloyd Wright house in the U.S."
"OH, that IS cool!"
And sure enough, if you check out www.barragan-foundation.com, click on English, click on Luis Barragan, click on Visitor's guide, and move the mouse up to the top little dot in the middle of the map of Mexico City, you'll find the Casa: Orozco house-studio, Ignacion Mariscal 132, constructed 1940.
So, tell me, how cool is that?
1 comment:
It is cool ... and so is the first page of the Barragan Foundation's website (no luck at getting into anyother pages). but, hey, it's a foundation ... how about a donation for your using it and keeping it up so well ...????
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