42 DIGS.NET
| 3.10.23
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J O U R N E Y S | C I G N O H O T E L
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Hotel is, like Mérida itself, much shaped
by its cultural milieu, with one foot in
the provincial past and the other in the
electrifyingly present. Little is known about
this grand-dame's past as a private house,
only that the structure was modified many
times, with one room was fully preserved
(its original shape and central yard were
rescued and remade). The present, on the
other hand, is vivid and tangible, a warm,
rustic and considered reimagining by
González deserving of its gallant surround,
characterized by colorful streets, broad
plazas, and columned, colonial casas
that open to beautiful patios and tropical
vegetation. It is all very cinematic, and this
particular house-turned-hotel a set piece
with a decidedly local tone "reinforced
n the Mexican state of Yucatán,
Mérida is a melting pot of cultural
inheritances, predominantly
Mayan and Hispanic, with
Lebanese, French and Eastern
influences that permeate "the entire
character and atmosphere of the city,"
says by architect Roger González. "The
old city, built on top of an abandoned
Mayan city," he notes, "is laid out in a grid
pattern, much in the Renaissance style,
and over nearly 500 years, Mérida has
expanded in all directions." But it is the
city's historic center—its vibrant, pulsating
heart—that occupied González as he
completed a head-turning transformation
of a 19th-century mansion for use as a
contemporary boutique hotel.
Lavished in architectural detail ranging
from stately columned walls to ornate
iron gates, the recently arrived Cigno
