Lomas de Chapultepec | |
---|---|
City | Mexico City |
Borough | Miguel Hidalgo |
Population (2005) [1] | |
• Total | 20,440 |
Lomas de Chapultepec (English: "Chapultepec Hills") is a colonia , or officially recognized neighborhood, located in the Miguel Hidalgo borough of Mexico City. It dates back to the 1920s, when it was founded with the name Chapultepec Heights. [2] Its main entrance is through Paseo de la Reforma.
Lomas de Chapultepec continues to be a predominantly residential zone characterized by single-family homes, however there are commercial properties and high-rise developments at the neighborhood periphery. Home to some of the biggest mansions in the city and many high-net-worth individuals, the colonia has gained a reputation of affluence.
In the early 1920s, Mexico City suffered a housing shortage as a result of internal migrants fleeing from uncertainty in the provinces caused by the Mexican Revolution. [3] To meet demand, the Ayuntamientos of the Distrito Federal passed various city ordinances in order to make it easier for private investors to develop urban subdivisions. [3] Also beneficial was Article 27 of the 1917 Constitution, which was used to promote agrarian land reform and indirectly encouraged the construction and emergence of new urban developments when it prompted the change of land-use of the properties surrounding the capital. [3] A total of 26 to 32 colonias were built as a direct result, one of which was Lomas de Chapultepec. [3]
On September 28, 1921, the corporation, Chapultepec Heights Company, was formed with the objective of developing the land acquired from the Hacienda de los Morales (also known as Rancho del Huizachal de Alberto Cuevas Lascuráin). [3] The company was founded by five investors (two Americans, two Mexicans and one Briton) who were able to buy the 687 hectares of the ex-Hacienda for about one cent per square meter. [3]
In 1922, Chapultepec Heights was planned by José Luis Cuevas Pietrasanta in the "Garden City" fashion. [4] With large lots, large gardened yards, wide winding streets, gardened boulevards and scattered small shopping areas within walking distances from homes. The early settlers attracted to the area were young professionals and some of the nouveau riche revolutionaries, bureaucrats and the new business class of Mexico City. Smaller homes were built on the side streets while mostly large houses were built on Paseo de la Reforma and Paseo de Las Palmas, the two main avenues.
The name was changed to Lomas de Chapultepec from Chapultepec Heights in 1924 since foreign words were not allowed in the rótulos used to advertise the new development. [5]
Most of the early houses were built in the "Colonial Californiano" style, with stone carvings around windows and doors and pitched roofs. Many of these early homes are catalogued and protected by the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes as they have been deemed a cultural patrimony. Later on, Modern houses designed by notable architects such as Luis Barragán, Juan Sordo, Ricardo Legorreta and Enrique Norten were built. Many of the houses built during the era known as the Mexican Miracle are still standing, and constitute the largest mansions in the western area of the city.
The colonia grew in size, being mostly inhabited by the upper class and by wealthy immigrants that arrived in Mexico in the early 20th century.
Today, Lomas de Chapultepec is inhabited by Mexican and foreign business professionals, celebrities, politicians and other wealthy individuals. In recent years commercial and business areas have developed on the edges of the neighborhood and there are also various embassies located in the area. Sales in the northwestern part of Mexico City, which includes luxury areas like Lomas de Chapultepec, generally average US$1 million per house. [6]
Starting in the early 1950s, capitalizing on Lomas de Chapultepec's success and the glamour of its name, other developers opened subdivisions further out into adjacent Estado de Mexico with names including the branding word "Lomas" (Spanish for hills). Some of the neighborhoods that stemmed from these expansions are Lomas de Tecamachalco, Lomas de la Herradura, Lomas de las Palmas, Lomas Anahuac, Lomas Altas, Lomas de Bezares, Lomas de Santa Fe, Lomas de Vistahermosa and Interlomas.
Today, the area encompassing Lomas de Chapultepec and neighboring developments is sometimes incorrectly referred to as simply Las Lomas, though locals specify which neighborhood they live in, be it Tecamachalco, Herradura, etc.
Lomas de Chapultepec is located in the northwestern hills of the Anahuac Valley, which is mostly contiguous with Mexico City, and was mostly created following the contour of the terrain, leaving the natural drainage as open space. The developed area was planted with a large number and variety of trees, and is now one of the most wooded areas in the city.
The colonia's borders are: [7]
Lomas de Chapultepec is divided into eight sections, in 2005 their population was as follows: Section I had 1,855 individuals, Section II had 1,528, Section III had 3,302, Section IV had 3,161, Section V had 2,379, Section VI had 2,069, Section VII had 707, and Section VIII had 5,439. [1] Combining for a population of 20,440 inhabitants in the colonia.
The initial Jewish community centered around Condesa, Roma and the historic center. In the 1950s-1970s, Mexico City's Jews tended to move the hills of Mexico City’s leafy, affluent northwest: Polanco, Lomas de Chapultepec, Interlomas, Bosques de las Lomas, and Tecamachalco. [8]
Interjet had its headquarters in Lomas de Chapultepec, [9] as does Google Mexico. [10]
Chapultepec, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec" in Mexico City, is one of the largest city parks in Mexico, measuring in total just over 686 hectares. Centered on a rock formation called Chapultepec Hill, one of the park's main functions is as an ecological space in Greater Mexico City. It is considered the first and most important of Mexico City's "lungs".
Paseo de la Reforma is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. It was designed at the behest of Emperor Maximilian by Ferdinand von Rosenzweig during the era of the Second Mexican Empire and modeled after the great boulevards of Europe, such as the Ringstraße in Vienna and the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The planned grand avenue was to link the National Palace with the imperial residence, Chapultepec Castle, which was then on the southwestern edge of town. The project was originally named Paseo de la Emperatriz in honor of Maximilian's consort Empress Carlota. After the fall of the Empire and Maximilian's subsequent execution, the Restored Republic renamed the Paseo in honor of the La Reforma.
Miguel Hidalgo is a borough (alcaldía) in western Mexico City, it encompasses the historic areas of Tacuba, Chapultepec and Tacubaya along with a number of notable neighborhoods such as Polanco and Lomas de Chapultepec. With landmarks such as Chapultepec Park and the Museo Nacional de Antropología, it is the second most visited borough in Mexico City after Cuauhtémoc where the historic center of Mexico City is located. Tacubaya and Tacuba both have long histories as independent settlements and were designated as “Barrios Mágicos” by the city for tourism purposes.
Colonia Roma, also called La Roma or simply, Roma, is a district located in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City just west of the city's historic center. The area comprises two colonias: Roma Norte and Roma Sur, divided by Coahuila street.
Santa Fe is a business district and edge city in the west of Mexico City. It is part of the alcaldías (boroughs) of Cuajimalpa and Álvaro Obregón. Santa Fe consists mainly of luxury highrise buildings surrounding Centro Santa Fe, which is the largest mall in Latin America. The district includes a residential area and three university campuses.
Auditorio is a Mexico City Metro station located on line 7. It is one of the main metro gateways to the chic and business-related neighborhood, Polanco. The entrances to the station are on Paseo de la Reforma, one of the main thoroughfares in Mexico City.
Huixquilucan Municipality is one of the municipalities in State of Mexico, Mexico. It lies adjacent to the west side of the Federal District and is part of Greater Mexico City but independent of Mexico City itself. The name "Huixquilucan" comes from Nahuatl meaning, "place full of edible thistles".
Polanco is a neighborhood in the Miguel Hidalgo borough of Mexico City. Polanco is an affluent colonia, noted for its luxury shopping along Presidente Masaryk Avenue, the most expensive street in Mexico, as well as for the numerous prominent cultural institutions located within the neighborhood.
Colonia Juárez is one of the better–known neighborhoods or colonias in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City. The neighborhood is shaped like a long triangle with the boundaries: Paseo de la Reforma on the north, Avenida Chapultepec on the south, and Eje 1 Poniente on the east.
Condesa or La Condesa is an area in the Cuauhtémoc Borough of Mexico City, south of Zona Rosa and 4 to 5 km west of the Zócalo, the city's main square. It is immediately west of Colonia Roma, together with which it is designated as a "Barrio Mágico Turístico". Together they are often referred to as Condesa–Roma, one of the most architecturally significant and bastion of the creative communities of the city.
Colonia Cuauhtémoc is a colonia in the Cuauhtémoc municipality of central Mexico City. It is located just north of Paseo de la Reforma, west of the historic center of Mexico City.
Interlomas is a luxury residential and commercial area in Mexico located 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of Mexico City's historic center and about 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) north of the Santa Fe edge city. Interlomas is an upper class zone of colonias (neighborhoods) with high incomes. Interlomas belongs to the municipality of Huixquilucan in the State of Mexico. As of 2011, it had a population of approximately 170,000.
Bosques de las Lomas is a colonia, or officially recognised neighbourhood, located in western Mexico City. It falls partly in Cuajimalpa borough and partly in Miguel Hidalgo borough. It was the masterpiece of Carleton F. Boyle, who previously was the CEO of Lock Joint Company. His good friend Don Carlos Trouyet owned the land & C.F. Boyle created the development which was the first borough in Latin America to have all the telephone & electrical lines run underground. The bridge in Bosques de las Lomas was the first of its kind in Latin America when C.F. Boyle hired French engineers to create it, and to this day Mexican Military Units use it for training exercises. The church design was chosen in a contest by C.F. Boyle by the architect Juan Cortina Del Valle, which has a vanguard design of a pyramid with a prominent stained glass window by the Hungarian-French artist Victor Vasarely.
Tecamachalco is the common name for a State of Mexico suburban neighbourhood, colonia Lomas de Tecamachalco, which forms part of the city of Naucalpan, in Naucalpan and Huixquilucan municipalities, in the State of Mexico.
Escuela Sierra Nevada is a private school in the Mexico City metropolitan area. It was established in 1950 and serves preschool through high school.
Colonia Ampliación Daniel Garza is a colonia in Delegación Miguel Hidalgo of Mexico City, part of that in its time was the old Villa de Tacubaya.
Colonia Verónica Anzures is a colonia of Mexico City located in the Miguel Hidalgo borough. The neighborhood is a residential area but it also houses some office buildings, most importantly the Torre Ejecutiva Pemex.
Avenida Constituyentes is a highway running east/west in western Mexico City. Serving as the principal access road to the Santa Fe business district, it frequently experiences traffic jams. It is named in honor of the Constitution of Mexico. The avenue runs through Álvaro Obregón and Miguel Hidalgo districts.