The Architecture and Decoration of Two Aristocratic Houses in Mexico City in the Eighteenth Century

This paper analyzes the material culture, interior design and distribution of two eighteenth-century Mexico City noble palaces to better grasp the mentality, quotidian experience, and values of the Mexican aristocracy. Between 1782 and 1784, when the houses were at their most sumptuous, the government, carrying out legal requirements after the death of the owners, demanded that detailed inventories be made of each of the houses and that values be assigned to all of the possessions. Two sets of values were assigned to the goods in each of the houses, to suit the economic interests of various heirs and legal parties. These inventories, and the supplemental archival materials explaining how these houses were planned and furnished, provide us with a view of upper class households, familial life, and religious practices. The ground floor, containing coaches, horses, and supplies, differs in each of these houses, but features in their living arrangements and their chapels were similar. Some features, such as the entresuelo, also allow us insight into the relationship of wealthy elites to their servants. Features such as the vast public reception areas provide an opportunity to better understand aristocratic sociability. The structure and design of sleeping quarters provides insight into attitudes about gender and companionate relationships. The quantity of luxury goods itemized in the inventories is impressive. Five pages in the printed inventory of the Jala household were devoted to a listing of jewelry made of diamonds, precious stones, silver, and gold. The house had nine clocks and serving dishes for hundreds of people. Decorated screens are the most informative objects. These, together with furnishings such as desks and large storage trunks inform us about the provenance of luxury articles, from China, Japan, Asia, Europe, other parts of the Americas and New Spain.