Architecture establishes an ongoing dialogue between art and technique, between spirituality and the utilitarian. It is an aesthetic language that takes shape in functional constructions and reflects the ideas of each epoch or culture. Architecture is a visual expression in constant evolution. 

REFUGIO REYES RIVAS:

Born on September 2, 1862 in Sauceda de la Borda, Zacatecas and died on February 3, 1943 in Aguascalientes, at the age of 81. He was an architect and engineer and although he held no academic qualification he constructed major buildings in the 19^th and 20^th centuries in Zacatecas, Aguascalientes and Jalisco. He built them with his empirical ingenuity and an eclectic artistic style.

The prominence of Refugio Reyes in the field of architecture began when he and his family moved to Guadalupe, Zacatecas in 1871, where he acquired an education within the Franciscan order.[1] He then worked for a time on the railroad in Zacatecas, “It is probable that his work on the construction of the railroad was seasonal, between 1875 and 1886, that is, between 14 and 23 years of age […],”[2] while in the latter year, 1886, he was responsible for the clocktower in Guadalupe Zacatecas.[3]

He continued to build projects in Zacatecas, until on February 7, 1896, he moved to Aguascalientes[4] to begin the construction of the church of San Antonio, (although the first stone was laid in 1895). His work continued and he left clear evidence of his architecture and artistic work which was: “[…] as well as stereotomy—the art of making precise drawings of how to cut and assemble blocks of stone—he also employed novel techniques in the use of steel.”[5] Refugio Reyes Rivas died without a qualification to his name; however in 1985 the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes symbolically granted him the title of architect post mortem.[6]

HISTORY OF THE PROPERTY:

In the Historical Archive of the State of Aguascalientes, it was found that in the year 1887, the building was left to the children of Don Juan Ponce and Doña Josefa Cano, being located on the first street of La Merced, the second block of the second quarter of the city of Aguascalientes. In 1889, the Ponce siblings granted a power of attorney to one of their own, Don Fernando Ponce, to sell the house to Don Cipriano Vera, for the price of 4,000 pesos, with an area defined by 27 varas of frontage and 54.5 varas in depth.[7]

On January 3, 1901, Don Cipriano Vera sold house number fourteen, with an area measuring 22 m 62 cm of frontage and 45 m 67 cm in depth to Don Refugio E. Alvarez, for the price of 5,000 pesos.[8] On September 17, 1908, Mr. Alvarez sold the property to Ms. Matilde López de Valadéz, with the same measurements, for the price of 16,000 pesos.[9]

These notarized documents refer to the successive owners over the period 1887 to 1908, and an important aspect worth noting is what they say about the contents: what was inside the house? In this regard the table below presents a sample of these documents from 1889 and 1908 that focus on the contents of the property.

1889

1908

“[…]entrance hall, living room, WC, three adjoining bedrooms, another bedroom after the WC, a dining room, a fourth office, another WC, a room in the first courtyard, [pantry], a room for servants in the second courtyard, kitchen and its corridor in the first courtyard, coal cellar, laundry room, stable, barn, two common areas, well, a drain, seven courtyards of all sizes, four wardrobes embedded in the wall and [five] cupboards […]”[10]

“[…]living room, two bedrooms, hall room, two more rooms, dining room and corridor, all this in the first courtyard, corridor that communicates with the second courtyard and in this there is a pantry, servants’ room, kitchen, aviary, laundry rooms and toilet, third courtyard, and in it there are two bedrooms and a toilet; fourth courtyard, and in it there is an ironing room, four rooms and another upstairs; the second courtyard communicates with the corral through a corridor and in said corral there is a toilet, stable and barn.”[11]

 

In 1908, with a new owner of the property, Matilde López de Valadéz, it was altered to accommodate a new purpose, an artistic function, giving rise to an opportunity for one of the best-known architects of the period: Refugio Reyes. How did he come to be involved?

[…] Matilde López de Valades, wife of the owner of de la Hacienda del Soyatal, for whom Refugio Reyes had previously worked in 1897[…] On this occasion, in 1908, when Reyes worked on the property, remodeling the first and second courtyards and the façade […] It appears that in 1916, according to Refugio Reyes’ memoirs, the altar of the oratory and the fountain in the courtyard were built.[12]

Over the years the house saw different owners and uses, and it was inherited by the Arellano family. In 1951 the owner rented the house to the Congregation of the Madres Adoratrices Perpetuas Guadalupanas, founders of the Cristóbal Colón College. The school they established in the building was dedicated to girls and young women in pre-primary and primary education.

In 1987 the Congregation of the Madres Perpetuas Guadalupanas moved to a new residence. The same year, the state made agreements with María Arellano Valadéz, for the creation of the Museo Regional de Historia de Aguascalientes; for which purpose the alterations were carried out by the architect Luis García Ruvalcaba.[13] On October 3, 1988 the Aguascalientes Regional History Museum was opened.

It has been noted that the architecture is eclectic in character, with Renaissance airs, Neoclassical columns and Art Nouveau elements in the façade, together with local ironwork and the stained glass window of the façade. All of this is representative of the buildings of the period comprising the late 19^th century and early 20^th century, and even more so when it comes to the art of Refugio Reyes. The property was residential in the 19^th century and today it is a museum; it transcends history in revealing what houses of the period were like, while retaining “testimonies” in the shape of original parts of the property, and the materials it was built of including painting, flooring and tiles.

[1] See: Andrés, Reyes Rodríguez, Adiós arquitecto sin título. Breves relatos sobre Refugio Reyes, Instituto Municipal Aguascalentense para la Cultura, Mexico, 2013.

[2] José, De Santiago Silva, “Refugio Reyes Rivas, Arquitecto” in El Templo Agustino de San Antonio de Padua en Aguascalientes, Observatorio de Políticas Educativas y Culturales, México, 2013, p.56.

[3] See autobiographical note in: Notas de los años que llebo de vida, in Víctor Manuel, Villegas Arquitectura de Refugio Reyes, Mexico, 1974.

[4] Ibid.

[5] J. Jesús, López García, Sobre… arquitectura. CDXL Años de la Fundación de la Ciudad de Aguascalientes como Villa de la Asunción” Instituto Municipal Aguascalentense para la Cultura, México, 2015, p.66.

[6] Véase en: Op.cit. José,De Santiago Silva, “Refugio Reyes Rivas, Arquitecto”, pp.63-64.

[7] Véase en: AHEA-FPN, Libro 29, fojas 106f-109f.

[8] Véase en: AHEA-FPN, Libro  193, fojas 1f-3v.

[9] Véase en: AHEA-FPN, Libro Minutas 143, fojas, 136f-137v.

[10] AHEA-FPN, Libro 29, fojas 106f-109f.

[11] AHEA-FPN, Libro Minutas 143, fojas, 136f-137v.

[12] En Aguascalientes Refugio Reyes se Revalora, Secretaría de Obras Públicas Municipales, Mexico, 2013, p.137.