Polanco, Mexico City

Polanco skyline from the roof. Distrito Federal DF - Ciudad de México
Polanco
Polanco
Location of Polanco in Central/Western Mexico City
Coordinates: 19°26′N 99°12′W / 19.433°N 99.200°W / 19.433; -99.200
Website http://www.polanco-online.com.mx
The Domit House on Castelar Street
Older house wedged between two apt buildings
Francisco J. Serrano's Pasaje Comercial (1938) along Avenida Presidente Masaryk in the Polanquito district in Colonial Californiano style

Polanco is the main urban upscale district in Mexico City, part of the Miguel Hidalgo borough, located north of Chapultepec Park and consisting of five official neighborhoods ("colonias").

Polanco is often called the Beverly Hills of Mexico City.[1][2] Indeed it is home to the city's densest concentration of upscale shopping, hotels and restaurants, embassies, high-end car dealerships and home furnishings shops, many of the city's most important museums, and together with adjacent Nuevo Polanco, Mexican headquarters of many multinational companies. As a residential area, the neighborhood is culturally diverse, and many super-rich, politicians, celebrities, artists and businessmen call the area home.

The street names of Polanco incorporate an eclectic mix of the world's philosophers, writers, scientists and even a Czech president: Avenida Presidente Masaryk, a street with some of the highest rents and most upscale boutiques in Latin America.[3] Latin America's largest department store is located in Polanco as well as six shopping malls.

History

The colony takes its name from a river that crossed what is now the Avenue Campos Elisios (Champs Elysees), named in memory of the Spanish Jesuit Juan Alfonso de Polanco, a secretary of Ignatius of Loyola, whose relatives, members of the Polanco family, were members of board of the Kings of Spain in the 17th century and came to Mexico as officers of the Crown.

In a plane made by Francisco Antonio Guerrero y Torres and dated 1784, a "ruined house Polanco" is located on the grounds of the Hacienda de San Juan de los Morales. This hacienda sits on land donated in the sixteenth century to Hernán Cortés by the King of Spain, under the jurisdiction of Tacuba. At the beginning of the colonial times, parts of this land (near the current center of the Hacienda) were occupied for planting mulberry trees for breeding silkworms (hence the name "los morales"). The hull of the Hacienda as currently known dates from the eighteenth century. Extension lands belonging to the estate began to be divided in the late 1920s.

Polanco was developed in 1937 by the Aleman family, the same developers of Ciudad Satélite and San José Insurgentes districts, on the land that was originally the Hacienda de los Morales, just north of Molino del Rey town and Bosque de Chapultepec . The first area to be built is now called Polanco Reforma and lies just north of Paseo de la Reforma, the entrance to the new neighborhood marked by a tile obelisk facing Reforma. In those days, there were only mansions surrounded by gardens and tree lined streets.

By the 60's the first department store arrived in the neighborhood, forever transforming the face of Polanco. In the 70's the last piece of land to be developed was sold, the triangle of Ejército Nacional, Ferrocarril de Cuernavaca and Periférico, where no stand-alone housing was built, only apartment buildings.

The 1985 earthquake reshaped the city layout, and Polanco was no exception; restaurants, embassies, boutiques and corporate business slowly moved from Zona Rosa and found a great new home in Polanco. Big houses were torn down and replaced with new buildings. The old inhabitants typically moved to neighborhoods such as Bosques de las Lomas and Lomas de Tecamachalco.

Today Polanco is facing a challenge. Land prices are some of the most expensive in the city, as zoning rules forbid skyscrapers in the area. There are few big mansions remaining which are protected by INBA, therefore large building projects can not be undertaken like the ones in Lomas de Chapultepec, or Santa Fe, two areas which have an edge on attracting new inhabitants. Ruben Dario avenue, facing Chapultepec Park, and Campos Eliseos are two of the most expensive streets in Mexico City, with apartments ranging up to $15 million.

Geography

Polanco consists of five officially recognized colonias, called "Polanco I Sección", "Polanco II Sección", "Polanco III Sección", "Polanco IV Sección", and "Polanco V Sección".[4]

The borders of Polanco are:[4]

Formerly Polanco contained nine colonias whose names were: Bosque de Chapultepec, Bosque de Chapultepec Polanco, Chapultepec Morales, Chapultepec Polanco, Los Morales - Sección Palmas, Los Morales - Sección Alameda, Polanco Reforma, Polanco Chapultepec, and Rincón del Bosque.[5]

Polanquito, between Parque Lincoln and Avenida Masaryk, consists of a three by three block pedestrian-friendly area with wall-to-wall restaurants and cafés.[6]

Nuevo Polanco is an area bordering Polanco to the north across Avenida Ejercito Nacional. It contains the Antara Polanco and Plaza Carso shopping malls, two new major museums, and many new residential towers.

Architecture

Antara Polanco, Ciudad de Mexico

Polanco enjoyed a construction boom in the 1950s when mansions and luxury apartment complexes were built. The style of construction of most mansions of this date is "Colonial Californiano", inspired by the Mission Revival Style in the Southwestern United States, with pseudo-baroque quarry windows, front-side gardens and inside halls. Some of these mansions have been renovated and converted into businesses and restaurants, many others have simply been torn down and replaced with new buildings.

Demographics

The population of Polanco is 27,322, distributed as follows across the colonias:[7]

  • Zone I 5385
  • Zone II 4943
  • Zone III 3603
  • Zone IV 3634
  • Zone V 9757

Jewish community

In the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, the majority of Mexico City's Jews moved from Condesa, Roma and the Downtown to Polanco, Lomas de Chapultepec, Interlomas, Bosques de las Lomas, and Tecamachalco, where the majority are now based.[8]

Attractions and amenities

Shopping

Avenida Presidente Masaryk

The highest-priced street and the one with the most upscale boutiques in Latin America,[9] it is compared by some to Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive or New York City's Fifth Avenue.[9] The Avenue is named after the first President of Czechoslovakia Tomáš Masaryk.

Shops include Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Chanel, Corneliani, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tiffany & Co., DKNY, Ermenegildo Zegna, Brioni, Burberry, Bulgari, Chopard, Gucci, Hermès, Frette, Marc Jacobs, Max Mara, Hugo Boss, Rolex, Jaeger Le Coultre, Galerias Tehran, and Berger Joyeros.[10]

Department stores

Polanco has a freestanding Liverpool department store, as well as the largest department store in Latin America, the flagship Palacio de Hierro store.[11]

Shopping centers

Shopping centers include:

Bordering Polanco in Nuevo Polanco are:

Restaurants

Polanco is home to some of the finest restaurants in México, Latin America and the world.

With renowned restaurants like Pujol (Ranked 25th best in the world), Quintonil (ranked 12th best in the world), Biko (Ranked 43 best in the world), Dulce Patria (Ranked 48 best in Latin America), Nobu, Morimoto, Tori Tori, Mr. Chow, Astrid y Gaston, Porfirios, Hacienda de Los Morales and Anatol.

Parks

Part of the city's iconic park, Chapultepec, falls within Polanco's borders. Parque Lincoln is a neighborhood park as are the smaller Parque América and Plaza Uruguay.

Museums

Polanco is walking distance from some of the city's most important museums in Chapultepec Park, such as the National Museum of Anthropology, the Soumaya Museum, the Modern Art Museum and Chapultepec Castle. Bordering Polanco on the north, in Nuevo Polanco are the Museo Soumaya and Museo Jumex.

Economy

In addition to the above mentioned shopping and dining, Polanco and Nuevo Polanco together are one of the primary areas for Class A office space in the city and metro area. As of 2017 Polanco was the second fastest-growing area of new construction of office space.[13] Samsung, Coca-Cola, Visa, GM, Nestlé, Telmex/Grupo Carso and many more multinationals have their headquarters in the middle of Polanco.

Transportation

Roads

Polanco is bordered on the west by the Anillo Periférico ring road and the Avenida Río San Joaquín freeway is just to the north, connecting the Periférico via Polanco to central Mexico City. Main east-west thoroughfares include (south to north:) Paseo de la Reforma, Avenida Presidente Masaryk, Ave. Horacio, Ave. Homero, and Ave. Ejercito Nacional. Main north-south thoroughfares include (east to west): General Mariano Escobedo, Molière, Ferrocarril de Cuernavaca and Juan Vásquez Mella.

Public transportation

Polanco is served by the Polanco and Auditorio stations of the Mexico City metro (subway). Peseros (minibuses), city buses and trolleybuses ply numerous streets in Polanco continuing to and from other parts of the city.

Education

Schools in Polanco include:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "polanco "beverly hills of mexico city" - Google Search". www.google.com.mx.
  2. ↑ "Mexico City Neighborhood Guide: Polanco".
  3. ↑ [http://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/economia/masaryk-la-tercera-avenida-mas-cara-en-america-latina.html "Masaryk, la tercera avenida más cara en América Latina", El Financiero, 23 November 2016
  4. 1 2 Mapa Colonias [Map of Colonias] (in Spanish), Delegación Miguel Hidalgo, retrieved 2013-10-06
  5. ↑ Suárez, Gerardo (2013-07-04), "Aumenta registro de comités vecinales en Polanco:IEDF" [Neighborhood committees register an increase in Polanco: EDF], El Universal (in Spanish), retrieved 2013-10-06
  6. ↑ Flannery, Nathaniel Parish. "Real Estate Review: Mexico City's Polanquito Neighborhood".
  7. ↑ Source:Consejo de Evaluación del Desarrollo Social del Distrito Federal. EVALUA DF. Índice del Grado de Desarrollo Social de las Unidades Territoriales (Delegaciones, Colonias, Manzanas) del Distrito Federal. Abril de 2011. as published on the Miguel Hidalgo borough website
  8. ↑ Stanton, Vivienne (September 13, 2010), The many faces of Jewish Mexico
  9. 1 2 Lida, David (2008). First Stop In The New World. Riverhead Trade. ISBN 1-59448-378-7.
  10. ↑ "Home". www.berger.com.mx.
  11. ↑ "Luxury Daily". www.luxurydaily.com.
  12. ↑ Meade, Julie (15 November 2016). "Moon Mexico City". Avalon Publishing – via Google Books.
  13. ↑ "Se estabiliza mercado de oficinas en CDMX". 21 July 2017.
  14. ↑ Home. Lycée Franco-Mexicain. Retrieved on March 14, 2014. "polanco Homero 1521, Col. Polanco, México, D.F., C.P. 11560" and "coyoacán Calle Xico 24, Col. Oxtopulco Universidad, México, D.F. C.P. 04310" and "cuernavaca Francisco I. Madero 315, Ocotepec, Morelos, C.P. 6220"
  15. ↑ "Plantel Polanco." Colegio Ciudad de México. Retrieved on April 5, 2016. "Colegio Ciudad de México, Plantel Polanco. Campos Elíseos 130, Col. Polanco."
  • Polanco. Las transformaciones de un barrio. Rafael Fierro

Coordinates: 19°26′N 99°12′W / 19.433°N 99.200°W / 19.433; -99.200

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