Colonia del Valle

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Colonia del Valle or just del Valle is a neighborhood in the central borough of Benito Juárez in Mexico City. When referring to Colonia del Valle several colonias are put included: the official Colonia del Valle, plus Tlacoquemecatl del Valle, Presidente Miguel Aleman and Actipan, sometimes Colonia Narvarte is also included. Its rough limits are: to the north is the Viaducto Miguel Aleman, to the east Avenida Universidad, to the south José Maria Rico and to the west Avenida de los Insurgentes.

[edit] History

The Colonia del Valle is situated on the grounds of what used to be old ranches of Santa Cruz, San Borja, Santa Rita, Tlacoquemécatl, and Amores, names of which are now street names in the colonia. The development of theses ranches into an urban neighborhood started in 1908, however the municipality only authorized the construction of country houses with plots no smaller than 1,000 square meters.

The real development of del Valle started after 1920 near the Mariscal Sucre Park and Amores street and between 1921 and 1923 with the paving of Avenida de los Insurgentes big Californian style residences were built. During the 1930's what is known as the Parque Hundido (its official name is Parque Luis G. Urbina) was developed where Compañía Ladrillera de la Nochebuena used to be, However this park is on the other side of Insurgentes and not officially part of the Colonia del Valle. In the late 1940's Mexican architect Mario Pani built the functionalist Centro Urbano Miguel Aleman applying the theories of Le Corbusier.

[edit] Today

Colonia del Valle is a mixture of residential and commercial real estate and has a very good urban infrastructure endowment, which attracts middle and upper middle class families. In addition to the Parque Hundido it has two other parks, Parque San Lorenzo and Parque Tlacoquemecatl. For many years its retail activity has revolved around the Liverpool department store and its newer addition Galerias Insurgentes shopping mall on the corner of Insurgentes and Félix Cuevas street.

As many of Mexico City’s central neighborhoods it has undergone a real estate boom that has reinvigorated the neighborhood but also created tensions among the older inhabitants.