By Greg Gunter
As an architect, I’m always amazed by how difficult it is to find a definition of “true” Spanish Colonial architecture in Mexico. California visitors to our town have an idea of the term, but theirs is an American notion of Spanish Colonial revival: thick white walls and red clay tile roofs. And anyone who’s spent more than an hour in San Miguel knows that is not the Spanish Colonial style we all know and love.
When teaching architectural fans about the style, La Casa del Inquisidor—the Baroque jewel found at the corner of Hernandez Macias and Cuadrante—always serves as one of the best examples in the entire city. It was, after all, a very well-funded entity that originally built the home and had the deep pockets to showcase all the ornate architectural elements lesser penisulares could not afford.
To begin, the home is solid stone, both face-cut and elemental carved cantera, a more labor-intensive construction method. Notice the monument keystone in the parapet that centers the home’s façade—it dates the house to 1780. It is flanked by two of the more ornamental rain scuppers in town. Despite the Palladian-like symmetry ruling this portion of the façade, each scupper boasts a different design of stylized animal creatures. Stretch your neck higher, and you’ll see the cornice above anchored by an extremely ornamental curved Vignola pediment from the Roman ionic style.
Lower your gaze a bit, and, at first glance, the cornices over-window awnings appear identical. Still, upon closer inspection, you’ll note that a dentice architectural stone populates one cornice while the other sports an entirely different style of corbels. Reinforcing that Palladian symmetry, the center corbel of each, however, becomes the keystone of the ornamental door trim below. Finally, look at the exquisitely-carved Baroque cortina that hangs below the right window. It serves as the most detailed cortina in the city, although grand examples also exist in the facades around Parque Juárez.
Someone could write a novel about the history of Spanish Colonial architecture in San Miguel, but the most interesting way to learn about it is with the architectural tour Patronato Pro Niños offers—you’ll be an expert in 90 minutes!
