Architecture & Interior Decor Tour by Jean Grimm's Mexican Art and Culture Tours

Art Culture Crafts Architecture Archaeology History

Experience the very best of Mexican interior design and architecture, from 16th century colonial to cutting edge contemporary. In Mexico City and San Miguel, and on day trips to Queretaro and Guanajuato you will be introduced to fascinating places and people when you visit beautiful buildings, haciendas, mansions, city and country homes, townhouses and a ranch. Some are designed by well known Mexican architects and interior designers; some have a vivid history; some combine the ancient with the contemporary; and some have fabulous gardens, Mexican kitchens, and art or antique collections. In Mexico City’s colonias Santa Fe and Villa Hermosa and at The National Center for the Arts in Churubusco, view futuristic architecture by Mexico's great contemporary architects, Ricardo Legorreta, Teodoro González de Leon, and Javier Sordo Madaleno, to name some; and visit one or two of Luis Barragan’s architectural masterpieces. Visit the homes and studios of some of Mexico’s best contemporary painters; visit select markets and shops, museums and galleries; and enjoy delicious gourmet meals in some of Mexico’s finest restaurants.

Noted specialist in Mexican art, architecture and design, Margaret Failoni, and artist Jean Grimm will lead the tour.

Because this is a living tour subject to the busy schedules of the architects, designers, artists and collectors, we are unable to provide you with an exact itinerary at this time. You will be provided with a comprehensive, day-to-day itinerary closer to departure time. We’ll see what is listed in this Program and more. Your trip to Mexico will be an adventure in architecture and interior décor you will always remember.

Cost:

Double occupancy: $2,695 per person

Single occupancy: $3,295 per person

Airfare is not included.

A deposit of $300 is due by May 1, 2008. The balance is due by June 30.

Program for Architecture and Interior Décor

In two of Mexico City’s newest colonias, Santa Fe Villa Hermosa, in the far south west side of Mexico City, we’ll view futuristic architecture by many of Mexico's leading contemporary architects and visit a beautifull home in a gated four tower complex designed and furnished by Javier Sordo Madaleno, one of Mexico’s foremost contemporary architects.

On a visit to the Center for the Arts in the Churrubusco area we’ll explore seven buildings designed by seven of Mexico’s most cutting edge contemporary architects, including Pritzker Prize winner, Ricardo Legorreta. Some of the buildings house the National Schools of Drama, the Plastic Arts, Dance, Film and the Music Conservatory. Too, visit one or two of Luis Barragan’s most famous structures of the Modern Era.

View the private art collections of two of Art News Top 200 Collectors, one in the collector’s beautiful private home and the other in a remarkable penthouse with a spectacular city view. Visit the home of one of Mexico City's leading art dealers, the home of one of Mexico’s top architects and the home and studio of one of Mexico’s most acclaimed contemporary artists as welll as the townhouse home of artist Jan Hendricks in Colonia Condesa and the pristine Habita Hotel in Polanco.

Enjoy a gourmet lunch made especially for us at the exclusive Club de Industriales, and take a private tour of the club, whose halls and rooms are designed and custom furnished by some of Mexico’s top interior designers and architects. The club also houses one of the most important collections of modern and contemporary Mexican fine art.

Visit the Dolores Olmedo Museum located in a fabulous hacienda with beautiful grounds, peacocks and hairless Aztec dogs. Here we will see Ms. Olmedo’s apartment decorated with exquisite Chinese pieces, as well as the museum’s fine art collection which has many paintings by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. The PBS show American Masters has an online video biography of Senor Rivera, and there is an online web musuem as well. Ms. Kahlo is also featured in a PBS film and is also featured online

On one of our Mexico City days we’ll have breakfast at the House of Tiles in the Centro Historico, the city’s oldest district, dating back to the 1500s. Visit Palacio Iturbide, the Centro's dazzling new museum: Museo de Arte Popular (MAP); an Art Deco structure, beautifully restored and adapted by Teodoro Gozalez de Leon who designed the Museo Tamayo; and two gorgeous Porfiriato era buildings, The Bellas Artes with murals by Mexico's top muralists and the Art Deco Post Office.

On Day 6, drive northwest of Mexico City to the Colonial heartlands. Our first stop will be in Queretaro where we tour the historic center with its magnificent church and museum. Lunch will be at the Posada Santa Rosa, in a spectacular 17th c. hacienda, Casa de la Marquesa, now a hotel. We will drive by Queretaro’s majestic, still-functioning aqueduct, and taste excellent Mexican wines at the Flexenet Winery just outside of Queretaro.

In San Miguel de Allende, we’ll visit a magnificent hacienda, several fabulous homes and country homes. Some of the homes have fabulous Mexican kitchens and gardens, several beutifully decorated private town houses located in a 17th c. town house complex, and a beautiful loft apartment with a roof garden panoramic view of San Miguel.

On a day trip to Guanajuato, the mountainous old mining town of subterranean tunnels and labyrinthine streets, which once supplied a third of the world’s silver, visit a beautiful hacienda and the studio of an important Mexican artist. Also tour the beguiling city center and have a fabulous lunch high up in the hills of La Valencia at La Casa del Conde de Valencia. We can shop or browse for a few minutes in their wonderful store. Visit the 18th c. Templo de San Cayetano, Guanajuato’s most spectacular colonial church.

Meet two contemporary San Miguel painters, view their art, listen to their stories and see their homes and studios.

We’ll inspect San Miguel’s Fabrica La Aurora, an old textile factory converted into a unique art and design center that now houses over 30 specialty furniture and home accessory stores, antique shops, artist studios and galleries and restaurants.

On a visit to an exceptional collection of indigenous masks in Cuesta San Jose, one of our hosts will teach us about the masks and our other host will teach us about the region’s indigenous arts and crafts in her wonderful crafts gallery.

There will be a half day free both in Mexico City and San Miguel de Allende, to shop, do some exploring on your own or just relax. Throughout the trip you’ll wine and dine in some of Mexico’s best restaurants.

Can I take only one portion of the Architecture & Interior Décor tour?

This is a question a number of people have asked us over the years so, this year,
we are saying yes. You can take the Mexico City portion only or, the San Miguel
de Allende with day trip to Guanajuato portion only.

Jean Grimm Mexican Art Tours
1233 East Baker Drive
Tempe AZ 85282-7282

1-888-783-1331

480-730-1764

jgrimtours@aznetgate.net

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All Rights Reserved.