The Embassy of Mexico, which stands in the sixteenth district, near the Place d'Iéna, allows to admire the influence of art deco, as at the Champs-Élysées Theatre, the Palais de Tokyo, the Conseil économique, social et environnemental, or the Palais de Chaillot, to cite only the most representative examples.
But the great peculiarity of the Embassy building lies in the fact that, unlike these buildings built in the 1930s, it was built in 1927, that is, two years after the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, which marked the first peak of Art Deco architecture in France.
At that time, five years after the end of the Mexican Revolution and the stability of the regime, the Mexican government devoted all its efforts to re-establishing diplomatic, trade and cultural relations with its main partners, while highlighting the country’s spirit of modernity. France is therefore unavoidable.
Thus, in 1926, when the Government of Mexico acquired the Hotel de la Duchesse de Luynes, located on Avenue du Président Wilson, it set up the residence of the head of mission and built the Embassy on the space formerly reserved for the garden, overlooking Rue de Longchamp. Seduced by the art deco style, its classical rigour and its games of symmetry, the Mexican Ambassador then stationed in Paris, Alberto Pani, asks the French architect André Durand to apply the principles to the construction of the Embassy.
It is one of the few examples of diplomatic buildings designed and built from the outset for such a destination. A brick facade with a Mexican eagle painted in Art Deco-style stones; a cubist and geometric vestibule; a second vestibule of immaculate white; a drum dome; stylish, structured-shaped lights; glass pavers, sometimes round, sometimes square.
The Residence of the Ambassador has retained its 19th century style of private mansion, with art deco adaptations in its furniture and decoration. To succeed in this adaptation of the Hotel de Luynes to this desire for change and modernity, the Mexican painter Ángel Zárraga (images) was charged with allegorically representing the history of Mexico, its friendship with France and its dream of universal brotherhood.
Guided tour, free, ON RESERVATION REQUIRED (reduced groups). Only on Saturday 17 September, between 11am and 5pm. Visits will take place from 11am to 12pm, from 12pm to 1pm, from 3pm to 4pm and from 4pm to 5pm.
Reservations: visiteambassademexique@gmail.com
The tour route includes the Ambassador’s Residence and the Embassy.
Duration: 40 minutes. Last visit: 15h45.