The most ornate pair of doors that I saw in San Miguel was the entrance to la Casa del Mayorazgo de Canal. The historic home was once owned by the de la Canal family, one of the richest families in New Spain. This building is now occupied by a bank, as well as la Casa de Cultura de Banamex (Banamex Cultural Center) which houses a collection of historic paintings and hosts special art exhibitions.
If you know of a more beautiful pair of doors than this one, don’t hold out on me!
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seems to be a tripping hazard at the threshold
There’s A LOT of that, and zero accessibility. And egress? Hopefully you don’t get locked in or you’re staying until morning.
How old are these doors and what kind of wood?
I would guess that the doors are original but I don’t know for sure. It must be the climate that has kept most of the wood doors in SMA in such great shape. I haven’t found much history on the building, but here’s a little:
This mansion was built between the late 18th and the early 19th century, and gracefully unites three architectural genres: baroque, rococo and neo-classical. During the War of Independence, the Casa del Mayorazgo de la Canal was pillaged by Spanish forces and the mansion’s proprietor, Narciso María Loreto de la Canal, was captured and thrown into prison, where he died in 1813. Upon the victory of the independence movement, however, the house was returned to the Canal family. In the late 19th century, the building was converted into a hotel, Hotel Allende, and by the 20th century, it was acquired by Albino García. In 1981, the property was bought by the National Bank of Mexico, and in 2010, during the celebrations of the 1810 War of Independence, the National Bank converted the Casa del Mayorazgo de la Canal into the Casa de Cultura Banamex, by agency of the prestigious cultural foundation Fomento Cultural Banamex. Today, people can visit the mansion to see temporary exhibits, the video room, the bookstore and the folk-art gift shop. This building is, unquestionably, one of the finest examples of New Spanish civil architecture in the region.
All code issues aside, those are some amazing doors.
The level of craftsmanship that went into them is awe inspiring.
Beautiful. These and your Tampa photos remind me of the most beautiful doors I have seen…the historic Roycroft Inn in East Aurora, NY (just southeast of Buffalo). They have hand-crafted 5′ single-leaf doors with beautiful engravings and custom hardware from turn-of-the-century Arts and Crafts movement. If work takes you to Buffalo, try to stay a night there! You won’t be disappointed.
I’ll check them out the next time I’m in the neighborhood! 🙂