Inside the building, whose façade displays an expression of Mexican Baroque, there are two windows that allow visitors to see the passage of time and the historical process of its occupations. The first window displays remains from both the viceregal and Mexica periods.
At the beginning of the 16th century, this building belonged to Cristóbal Vargas Valadez, who stipulated that, upon his death, a school named after Christ should be created on his property. Viceroy López Díez de Armendaris attended the inauguration of this school in 1638, and it closed in 1774 due to lack of resources.
When it became vacant, the College of San Ildefonso rented it out for housing until it was confiscated under the Lerdo Law and auctioned off by the federal government in 1857. It was purchased by Colonel Francisco Iniestra.
In 1928, offices were sold on this property. On February 9, 1931, the building was declared a historical monument and, in 1985, it was handed over to become the headquarters of the Caricature Museum, which opened on March 19, 1987.
Currently, on the right side, there is access to a room where you can see remains of walls, floors, and drains from the viceregal period, as well as the remains of a Mexica foundation represented by two construction stages possibly contemporary with stages VI (1486-1502) and VII (1502-1519) of the Templo Mayor. On one of the viceregal walls, which was built using carved ashlars from the Mexica quarters, there is a bas-relief depicting the head of a cipactli (crocodile). This window measures 2.06 m wide by 3.45 m long.
Source: Raúl Barrera Rodríguez, director of the Urban Archaeology Program
