A Neocolonial Villa in Queretaro’s Historic Center is Revived into a Boutique Hotel

February 10, 2022

Tá Hotel de Diseño is surrounded by history in every sense: housed in a neocolonial mansion in Queretaro’s historic center, it sits just in front of Jardín Guerrero – a designated Cultural Heritage of Humanity site by UNESCO – and was home to creative philanthropist Doña Carmen Septien de Soto for many years before re-emerging as a charming boutique hotel intended as a meeting place of architecture, hospitality, art and gastronomy.

Under the capable hands of architect Jesús Andrés Herrera Soto (JAHS) and Mexican studio anonimous, the hotel is a smart blend of historic charm and contemporary ingenuity. The mansion’s façades and pre-existing structure were respected at all times, with the studio going so far as to strip down the courtyard and passage walls to “reveal their processes, textures and colors”.

The premises welcomes two courtyards, a pool and jacuzzi, a haute cuisine restaurant with a menu highlighting local ingredients, and the pop-up gallery Coco, which regularly hosts shows by Mexican and international visual artists. Blooms of local acacias, jasmine, bottlebrush, ferns, nandinas, succulents and trees are important compositional elements throughout the spaces, featured on the rooftops and outdoor spaces.

Across the hotel’s 11 guest rooms and communal areas, visitors are treated to a display of eclectic materials of varying textures and patterns, contemporary touches, and intrinsic accents that collectively dialogue between the old and the new. Chiseled gray quarry stone and oak wood in herringbone patterns were laid down for indoor and outdoor flooring, while bronze steel latticework were lined along the newly-added pavilion’s pergolas. Furnishings by Paola Lenti, decorative accessories by Kartell, and lighting fixtures by Artemide spruce up the interiors, alongside vibrant woodwork furniture and the large entrance hall mural by artist Mario Oliva.