The Palacio de Correos de Mexico (Postal Palace of Mexico City) also known as the "Correo Mayor" (Main Post Office) is located in the historic center of Mexico City near the Palacio de Bellas Artes. It was built at the very beginning of the 20th century, when the Post Office here became a separate government entity. Its design and construction was the most modern of the time, including a very eclectic style mixing several different traditions into a very complex design. In the 1950s, the building was modified in a way that caused stress and damage, so when the 1985 earthquake struck Mexico City, this building was heavily damaged. In the 1990s, restoration work has brought the building back to original construction and appearance.
Eclectic Design
It was designed by Italian architect Adamo Boari (1863 - 1928) (who also designed the Palacio de Bellas Artes) and constructed by Mexican military engineer Gonzalo Garita y Frontera.
Its architectural style is highly eclectic, with the building being classed as Art Nouveau, Spanish Renaissance Revival, Plateresque, Spanish Rococo style, Elizabethan Gothic, Elizabethan Plateresque and Venetian Gothic Revival and/or a mixture of each. The building also has Moorish, Neoclassical, Baroque and Art Deco elements. There is also a mix of materials and design elements from Europe and Mexico. The palace contains ornaments of marble, plaster of paris and white "cantera" stone from Puebla.
The building has a steel frame and a foundation build on an enormous grid of steel beams, which has allowed it to withstand a number of earthquakes and has avoided the subsidence problem that plagues many buildings here.
The post office is made with a very light-colored, almost translucent variety of a stone called "chiluca." The exterior is covered in decorative details such as iron dragon light fixtures and intricately carved stone around the windows and the edge of the roof. Much of the metal work around the windows and other parts of the facade highly polished brass, which was made in Italy. An example of the building's complicated design is that each of the floors has windows of a different architectural style. The facade's unity is kept through the repetition of arches. The main entrance has a large ironwork canopy which is typical of the Art Nouveau that was fashionable in the early 20th century. The gallery on the fourth floor consists of slender Solomonic columns and a filigree cresting that surrounds the entire building.
Inside, the marble floors and shelves combine with bronze and iron window frames manufactured in Florence, Italy. The main stairway is characterized by two separate ramps that come together to form a landing. They also seem to cross on the second landing above, after which each move off in their own direction.The meeting room contains frescos by Bartolome Gallotti painted over a base of 24 carat gold, with themes relating to the history of written communication and the sending of messages.
