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SAHARA Highlights: Mexico City

Sep 23, 2025 by SAHARA Co-Editors Jacqueline Spafford and Jeannine Keefer

This month our highlights focus on spaces in and around Mexico City. You can visit these places when you attend the Annual Conference in April. One image, however, is a historic photograph documenting the environs of Mexico City in the 1960s. We look forward to additions you may make to the collections after the conference in April.

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1. Juan O’Gorman, UNAM Central Library, Detail, Mexico City, Mexico, 1952. Photograph by Krista Mileva-Frank.

A stone facade resembling a face with geometric shapes forming the eyes, nose, and mouth. Water flows from the mouth into a pool below. The structure is part of a larger building with windows visible at the top.

2. Pedro Ramirez Vázquez, Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico City, Mexico, 1964. Photograph by Carlos Plaza, 2021.

A large stone pillar stands in the center of an open courtyard, supporting a wide roof. Water cascades down around the pillar, creating a curtain of water that splashes onto the ground below. A building stands in the background, with a few people walking or standing in front.

3. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Bacardi Administration Building, Mexico City, Mexico, 1958-1961. Photograph by Amanda Delorey.

A two-story building with a black exterior and large glass windows, surrounded by green grass and tall trees. The building has an open ground floor with visible entrances and red accents.

4. Ricardo Vilchis Legorreta, Camino Real Polanco Hotel, Mexico City, Mexico, 1968. Photograph by Amanda Delorey.

A circular water feature is set against a bright yellow wall. The sky is blue with scattered clouds, and trees are visible in the background.

5. Juan O’Gorman, Casa O’Gorman, Mexico City, Mexico, 1931. Photograph by Ana G. Ozaki, 2023.

A two-story building with a red exterior and large glass windows. A curved staircase connects the ground to the upper level. Tall cacti and surrounding trees add greenery to the scene.

6. José Maria Gutiérrez Trujillo and Alejandro Prieto Posada, Edificio de Apartments, Unidad Independencia, Mexico City, Mexico, 1960. Photograph by Sarah Selvidge, 2012.

A two-story red brick building with large windows and greenery growing on the left side of the walls.

7. Luis Barragán, Casa Gilardi, Mexico City, Mexico, 1975-1977. Photograph by Ana G. Ozaki, 2023.

A bright pink building stands behind a courtyard with brown tiles and a tall tree

8. Mexica and Franciscans, Colonial Column Base Made From Quetzalcoatl Statue, Mexico City, Mexico, after 1521. Photography by Anthony Meyer, 2019.

A large, weathered stone artifact displayed on a concrete pedestal. The stone has a rough texture and detailed patterns along its edges. A small white label is placed near the base, and the background features a textured gray wall

9. Fernando Romero, Museo Soumaya, Mexico City, Mexico, 2011. Photograph by Amber N Wiley, 2014.

A large, silver-colored abstract building with hexagon shapes sits next to a taller building with glass windows.

10. Environs of Mexico City, Mexico. Photograph by William Kessler, 1967.

An aerial image of a flat landscape with short buildings and streets

11. David Chipperfield Architects, Museo Jumex; Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico, 2013. Photograph by Amber N. Wiley, 2014.

A tan modular building surrounded by trees sand taller buildings

12. Building in the Shape of a Tooth, Mexico City, Mexico, 1960. Photograph by Rachel Schloss.

A small, white tooth-shaped building with a window in front of a taller gray building

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SAHARA is a digital image archive developed by the Society of Architectural Historians in collaboration with JSTOR/ITHAKA and funded by the Mellon Foundation. Monthly selections presented by SAHARA Co-Editors Jacqueline Spafford and Jeannine Keefer. Join SAH to access nearly 200,000 images of the built environment for your research and teaching.

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At the center of SAH Celebrates is the Charnley-Persky House (1891–1892), a National Historic Landmark and a Chicago Landmark designed by Louis Sullivan with assistance from Frank Lloyd Wright, that serves as SAH headquarters. SAH Celebrates highlights the importance of fostering a supportive community whose efforts ensure the stewardship of architectural gems like the Charnley-Persky House.

Proceeds benefit the ongoing maintenance and care of the Charnley-Persky House and SAH's educational programs and publications, including SAH Archipedia and Buildings of the United States.

T. Gunny Harboe, FAIA
Founder, Harboe Architects

Michelangelo Sabatino, PhD
Professor, Director of Ph.D. Program in Architecture, Inaugural John Vinci Distinguished Research Fellow, Illinois Institute of Technology

Laurence O. Booth, FAIA
Booth Hansen Architects

Rebekah Coffman
Chicago History Museum

Stuart Cohen, FAIA
Cohen-Hacker Architects

Thomas M. Dietz

Jaeger Nickola Kuhlman & Associates

Alison Fisher
Art Institute of Chicago

Scott Fortman
Institute of Classical Architecture and Art, Chicago-Midwest Chapter

Keith Goad
The Keith Goad Group, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Chicago

Chandra Goldsmith
IIT CoA Board of Advisors

Barbara Gordon
Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy

Eleanor Gorski
Chicago Architecture Center

Stuart Graff
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

Julie Hacker, FAIA
Cohen-Hacker Architects

Sarah Herda
Graham Foundation

Harry Hunderman, FAIA
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc

Lisa Key
Driehaus Museum

Nancy and Thomas Klein
SAH Chicago Chapter

Thomas Leslie
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Jen Masengarb
AIA Chicago

Bonnie McDonald
Landmarks Illinois

Justin Miller
Docomomo US/Chicago

Ward Miller
Preservation Chicago

Heather Hyde Minor
University of Notre Dame

Keith N. Morgan, FSAH
SAH Past President

Sarah Rogers Morris
University of Illinois at Chicago

John K. Notz Jr.
SAH Benefactor Member

Keith Olsen
Olsen Vranas Architects

Abby Persky
Chicago, IL

Laurie Petersen
Charnley-Persky House Board Member

Charlie Pipal
School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Deborah Slaton
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Assocites, Inc.

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Mies Van der Rohe Society

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Commission on Chicago Landmarks

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