66 
House & Garden 
THE COLONIAL GARDENS OF MEXICO 
In the Republic to the South Interesting Examples Still Exist Showing the 
Art of the Spaniard, Moor and Chinese 
EL MARQUES DE SAN FRANCISCO 
T ime, at the best a 
cruel artificer, has 
dealt harshly with the 
old colonial gardens of 
Mexico. True, to this day 
those who care for such 
things may pace the 
shadowy alley of the 
Borda domain, or, if it is 
not their wish to travel 
quite so far afield, whis¬ 
per their confidences into 
the “Chamber of Secrets” 
which still survives in San 
Angel, or gaze at the muti¬ 
lated grotesques of the 
Tacuba “Pensil”. But 
these are perhaps the ex¬ 
ception. Of many of the 
most far-famed 
the gardens of New 
little, save a fast 
memory, has reached 
down to our own times; 
that, and a few clumps of 
bushes knotted together in 
inextricable confusion. 
For almost three centuries the Spaniards 
reigned supreme in Mexico; and the mas¬ 
terful race left its imprint indelibly 
stamped upon the country. During that 
time, in exchange for the untold wealth 
which they derived from their colony, they 
gave her much of what was undoubtedly 
amongst 
Spain 
fading 
An 18 th Century 
garden wall, beau¬ 
tifully carved, and 
rapidly decaying 
their best. Christian 
churches soon arose over 
the ruins of the ancient 
“teocallis”, and Aryan cus¬ 
toms and ideals came to 
supplant the semi-barbar¬ 
ous usages of the defeated 
Aztecs. Another element 
was imported as well, the 
strange Oriental strain 
which the Spaniards them¬ 
selves had acquired from 
the Moors. These three 
tendencies—t h e Spanish, 
the Moslem, and the native 
—give us the key to the 
whole of that exotic prod¬ 
uct, Mexican Colonial Art. 
Extraordinary as it may 
seem, there is likewise a 
not inconsiderable amount 
of Chinese influence, due to 
Mexico’s geographical posi¬ 
tion on the ancient commer¬ 
cial highway between Eu¬ 
rope and the Far East. But 
of course, it is nearly al- 
Spain that predominates. 
:w are the towns, even in the Peninsula 
, which can boast of such an imposing 
• of fine old buildings as the capital of 
(Continued on page 90) 
loggia 
1 e the 
irdens 
Angel 
The formal pool in this old garden at 
Cuernavaca is set with square island > 
and ends upon a loggia typical of Spain 
