Old Portal de Mercaderes Old Portal de Mercaderes (Mexico City)

part of centro joyero



mexican military band playing on zocalo in front of commercial buildings of west side.

the first colonial building built on side of square melchor davila, dedicated selling food , other merchandise. building stretched street vendors west , far north santo domingo. of land here granted don rodrigo de albornoz, count of santiago, secretary king carlos v , named accountant new spain. in 1524, city council passed ordinance stating owners of property fronting zocalo build covered archways in front of establishments on city land , rent space merchants. reason ordinance zocalo still had severe flooding problems @ time. these covered archways provide alternative open zocalo, during rainy season.

much, not all, of west side of zocalo owned albornoz, including portion @ southwest corner of plaza, near city council building. impossible build covered archways here because of gulley running close facade of houses here. albornoz made arrangement city; city install better drainage corner of zocalo, , albornoz build covered archways entire west side of plaza. task completed in 1529. resulting archway ran entire side of zocalo, covering madero , 16 de septiembre streets. through of colonial period post-independence period, west side known portal de mercaderes. in 1629, massive flooding in zocalo required of portals surrounding plaza rebuilt. portal again reconstructed in mid 18th century 1 of albornoz heirs. during 17th century, area sold silk , brocade cloth fruit , medicinal herbs. in 19th century, hat shops established here, , other vendors attached shelving onto arches columns sell toys. @ night, archway sell candy taking walks area.

in mid nineteenth century, portal divided 2 opening of plateros street, madero. ended portal being considered single entity.

from beginning of colonial period, zocalo , area west has been area covered in vendors’ stalls. building of covered archways did not work regulate commercial activity here. though arches built property owners, city still owned land on arches stood. led disputes on maintenance , on should control vendors. taking advantage of ambiguous situation, many peddlers set shop, permanently, on archways, street , zocalo itself. constant issue both portal , zocalo area in general, occasional attempt clear out ambulatory vendors , other unregulated selling. however, these sellers reappear again effort keep them out waned, problem repeat again , again on history of downtown. problem again tackled in 1990s part of effort revitalize historic center of mexico city. despite initial resistance, area has been free of street peddlers since time, west side of zocalo dominated jewelry shops located in first floor of buildings.

most of buildings on west side built on last century or so. starting in late 1950s, facades of these privately owned buildings facing zocalo began regularized neocolonial style, using tezontle (and blood red volcanic rock) , cantera (a greyish-white stone)to match federal district buildings , national palace.

on portion south of madero street, appears 1 building two. occupied 2 major hotels, former hotel majestic (now best western) , gran hotel de la ciudad de mexico (now howard johnson). both buildings date late 19th , 20th centuries , both hotels tend still called original names.