File:Mexico, the wonderland of the South (1909) (14801574543).jpg

Identifier: mexicowonderland1909cars (find matches)
Title: Mexico, the wonderland of the South
Year: 1909 (1900s)
Authors: Carson, William English, 1870-
Subjects: Mexico -- Description and travel
Publisher: New York, The Macmillan company
Contributing Library: Brown University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brown University

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nited States.While becoming gradually Americanized, Mexico City is,however, still cosmopolitan; for in a short radius one cansee a French costumiers, Spanish wines and groceries, aGerman hardware store and agencies of several importantEuropean firms of various nationalities. Some of the finest buildings in the city are in Calle Cincode Mayo (Fifth of May Street), a sort of Mexican Wall Street,where there are several new American office buildings —skyscrapers of ten or more stories — most of them beingthe offices of railway companies. One of the best buildingsis occupied by the Mexican Light and Power Company,a Canadian corporation supplying electric power for light-ing, running factories, street-cars, etc., from its works at agreat waterfall about forty miles out. Some of the old buildings used to-day for business pur-poses date perhaps from the sixteen hundreds; but theyhave lost their antique appearance as far as the outside isconcerned. Through their great square doorways, how-
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MEXICO CITY BY NIGHT 61 ever, can be seen the true old-fashioned patio, with itsgalleries around each story, its central fountain and shrub-bery. Some of these old buildings were once the mansionsof Spanish grandees, and fine carved fronts are to be seen.Among the most notable of the older buildings is the formerresidence of the Escandon family in the Calle San Fran-cisco, which is now cut up into offices, the first floor beingthe ticket office of the Mexican Central Railway. Next to the Escandon mansion is the Jockey Club, com-monly known as the House of Tiles, built by the Count delValle in the eighteenth century as a private residence.Its exterior is entirely covered with porcelain tiles of blueand white, imported from China at great cost. The en-trance is massive, and the grand stairway is a superb pieceof work, practically unaltered from the olden days. Alarge lamp with an alabaster shade, which hangs on thelanding, has a grim association, for it was beneath its lightthat the Cou

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