House tour

On Sunday I went with a friend on a tour of six different Mazatlan houses, ranging from a downtown historic building to an architect designed family home. I want to show you some photos to give you an idea of what we saw.

This is the front of the old house in the historical centre.  It's two houses in from the Malecon walk along the ocean.  This house dates from 1865 and has original tile floors and restored walls.  By law these houses cannot be remodeled, only restored.  You'll see the owners have been very true to the past in restoring this house.

The entry and dining room with stairs going up.  The ceilings here are at least 20 feet high.  The kitchen is a nightmare, not updated at all. But it leads out to a lovely secluded patio.  You can see the ancient tiles here and the lovely doors.  If I lived here I think I'd spend most of my time on this patio.

Upstairs there are several bedrooms.  Here's one example with its sweet little balcony.

And to give you an idea of the age of this home, check out this balcony that overlooks the street.  If you click on the photo to enlarge it you'll see just how old and decrepit the wooden railing is.  I was almost afraid to stand here.

In stark contrast to this home was the architecturally beautiful house in El Cid.  The young architect who built it for his brother has achieved a serene space that integrates the outdoors with the inside.  It is really lovely.  The house flows around a two storey light filled courtyard and all the rooms have views of trees and sky.

You can see that the ceilings are very high here as well and there's a sense of huge space.

Here's the entry with its curving staircase and a railing of glass.

Here's a light-filled bedroom with two lovely balconies off of it.

Both these houses are very Mexican, but what a contrast!