Francisco Antonio de Guerrero y Torres

Francisco Antonio de Guerrero y Torres (Villa de Guadalupe, 1727 – Muy Noble y Leal Ciudad de México, 1792) was a Mexican Baroque architect.

He was the major developer of Galante Style in the capital city of the New Spain, translating the Rococó to a Mexican language.

He was an apprentice of Lorenzo Rodríguez. He participated, in 1753, in the construction works of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine, however, the main author of that project was Pedro de Arrieta.

In the place in which was formerly located a 16th century mansion, he built a palace for the San Mateo Valparaíso counts, between December 5, 1769 and May 9, 1772. Due to this work, Guerrero y Torres achieved such fame that he was named Maestro Mayor del Real Palacio, de la Catedral y del Tribunal de la Santa Fe (Major Master of the Royal Palace, the Cathedral and the Inquisition Headquarters). The building, according with the count's wishes, was constructed in the most pure Mexican style. Therefore, it had grey Chiluca limestone structural elements (such as doorposts, gargoyles and cornices), while the external walls were recovered with red tezontle (a porous volcanic stone) and blue details of talavera poblana (azulejos from Puebla).

Between 1779 and 1785, also in a place formerly occupied by a fortress-house of the 16th century, he built a new palace for the Marquise of Jaral de Berrio, which was the only daughter of the Countess of San Mateo de Valparaíso. This palace had two towers in its frontal corners (they used to have only one, and that alone talked about the owner’s great wealth). The palace is nowadays knowns as Palace of Iturbide.^[1]

He also built the Pocito chapel (chapel of the little well), in the Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine complex, as an ex-voto, because he charged no fee, nor the constructors, while the materials were obtained thanks to the contributions of the people and the bishop. This chapel was built in the so called “transition Baroque” style, because it contained elements of the Later Baroque, mixed with elements which belonged to the incipient Neoclassic style.

Doña María Ignacia de Azlor y Echeverz, daughter of the Aguayo marquis and mother superior of a girls’ school, commissioned him the building of the La Enseñanza Church. The arch which marks the end of the bass-chorus (an arch degenerated in three archs) reminds that one which marks the beginning of the great staircase in the Santiago Calimaya counts’ palace. Besides, the La Enseñanza floor plan resembles that one of the ‘‘Pocito’’ chapel.^[2] Neverthless, there are no leftovers of Guerrero y Torres' architectural drawings, but the church had later modifications by Ignacio Castera (who unwinded in the Neoclassical style), and his drawings remain. Perhaps Castera built the convent, but not the purely Baroque temple. Anyway, the works were not held until 1795, three years after Guerrero y Torres’s death.^[3]

It's mostly due to his work that Mexico City was called the "town of palaces". This phrase is commonly ascribed to the baron Alexander von Humboldt, but was said by the English traveler Charles La Trobe.^[4]

Notable works

His most notable works, all in Mexico City, include:

• The San Mateo Valparaíso counts' palace (Venustiano Carranza Street and Isabel la Católica St.)
• The Jaral de Berrio marquise's palace (Madero St.)
• The Santiago Calimaya counts' palace (Pino Suárez St.)
• The two Houses of the Guerrero d'Ávila's Mayorazgo (Moneda St. and El Carmen St.)
• The church devoted to Our Lady of the Pillar, better known as La Enseñanza (102 Donceles St.)
• The Pulque Customs, in which was the gate of the City (Peralvillo St. and Reforma St.)
• The El Pocito chapel (the Little Well chapel), in the complex of Our Lady of Guadalupe Villa (town)

References