page_title: Casa de los Azulejos
section_title: The building of the house
hierarchical_section_title: Casa de los Azulejos / The building of the house
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of the Casa de los Azulejos in the 20th century, Mexico City
context_page_description: The Casa de los Azulejos or "House of Tiles" is an 18th-century Baroque palace in Mexico City, built by the Count of the Valle de Orizaba family. The building is distinguished by its facade, which is covered on three sides by blue and white tile of Puebla state. The palace remained in private hands until near the end of the 19th century. It changed hands several times before being bought by the Sanborns brothers who expanded their soda fountain/drugstore business into one of the best-recognized restaurant chains in Mexico. The house today serves as their flagship restaurant.
  The counts of the Valle de Orizaba began construction on the palace began in the 16th century. Descendants of this House of Orizaba covered the exterior of the palace in 1737 with the beautiful azulejos that are seen today.
context_section_description: The house is currently on the Callejón de la Condesa, between 5 de Mayo Street and what is now Madero Street. Madero Street was laid out in the 16th century and originally called San Francisco Street, after the church and monastery here. Later it was called Plateros Street, because of all the silver miners and silversmiths located here. From the 16th century through most of the colonial period, it was one of the most desirable streets in the city.
  Before 1793, there were two houses on this site, which were joined through the merger of two creole families of New Spain, when Graciana Suárez Peredo and the second Count del Valle de Orizaba married. Both families were very rich and held noble titles.  The current structure was begun in 1793, with much the same dimensions and shape as it has today, but no tiles.
  The mansion was remodeled a bit later, adding the covering of blue and white tiles. This caused a sensation and gave the house its popular name.
caption: Casa de los Azulejos in the 20th century.
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