Not every fairytale has a happy ending. Hi everyone, Ken here, welcome to "ThisHouse" !!
Today we take a look at the darker side of life in a palace as we venture to Mexico City.
Make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an exciting episode of "ThisHouse"
Don José Ignacio Mariano Santiago Joaquín Francisco de la Torre y Mier, who we
will refer to simply as “Ignacio” was born to an incredibly wealthy family.
In the late 1800s, his father owned 10s of thousands of acres of Sugar
Haciendas in South America, as one of the 3 largest sugar manufacturers in the world.
In addition, his family had royal European ties, Ignacio’s nephew was Prince Pierre of Monaco.
Naturally, for such a wealthy family, he grew up in his father’s palace in Mexico City.
When his father passed away, Ignacio inherited 10 haciendas spanning 40,000 acres, which instantly
made him Mexico’s most eligible bachelor. He began making power moves, expanding his inherited
business to grow his wealth exponentially. In 1877, he attended a dance where he wooed the Amada
Diaz, the daughter of Mexico’s President. By the next year, they were married. Though
Amada had been born the illegitimate child of the president after his affair with a native woman,
she was by far his favorite child. President Diaz was quick to offer Ignacio favorable terms for
exporting sugar, eliminating any chance for competition from other Mexican businesses.
Fast forward 4 years, and Ignacio is now one of the wealthiest men in the world. For his dream
house, he chose to build on the most premier lot in Mexico, number 1 Paseo de la Reforma. A
wide avenue, modeled after Le Champs Élysées in Paris, running diagonally through Mexico City.
The Limestone mansion was designed in the Beaux arts style, and unlike the grand
Gilded Age Mansions of the United States, it was built without a dry moat, reserving
the ground floor primarily for servants quarters and work rooms such as the kitchen and stables.
The second floor, called the Noble Floor, housed the family’s living quarters and public rooms,
where every window opened to a balustraded Juliet balcony. And the third floor,
concealed by a steeply pitched mansard roof, was reserved for guests and guest’s staff.
Entering the home from the first floor, a marble staircase floated
along a limestone block wall above a colorful mosaic tile floor from
which marble columns rose with floral relief work carved into their faces.
This would lead you to the reception room, located at the center of the Noble Floor overlooking the
plaza. The main body of the room was furnished with European antiques below an ecclesiastical
ceiling mural framed by layers of intertwining floral motifs crafted from gold leafed plaster.
To the other side of the room, an alcove was divided by marble
columns reaching nearly 18 feet towards their gold leafed Corinthian capitols.
In an incredible display of wealth, entire rooms would be redecorated and
reconfigured for esteemed guests, such as the temporary Anteroom of the Italian
Embassy which was created just to make a visiting diplomat feel more at home.
The dining boasted double height ceilings, in keeping with the Noble Floor,
with hand woven carpet set below the table. The walls, ceiling, mantle, and curio cabinet
were all worked into the same grid, being finished out seamlessly with wood panels.
Ignacio and Amada kept separate bedrooms in opposite wings of the house,
something which was customary at the time for a family of such stature. Here we are
seeing Ignacio’s room with floral carpets and wallpaper paired with heavy drapes.
Amada’s room, though the same size as her husband’s, was much more refined with
wide plank floors run below custom furniture with clean lines paired with plain textiles.
Their marriage was strictly for power, and outside of the public spotlight, Ignacio lived a secret
life. In 1901, Ignacio attended a masquerade ball for wealthy gay men where half the men were to
wear flamboyant Victorian dresses and the other half to wear tuxedos. This was not the first time
he had attended an event like this, but it would become the first time the public would find out
who he was behind closed doors. Police raided the party, arresting 41 men on the charge of “offense
to morals and good manners.” Ignacio had enough cash and jewelry on him to bribe the police, so
he was able to avoid jail, and most of the others were able to buy their way out of sentencing after
spending some time in jail, but 12 of the men were not able to afford the steep bribes and
received life sentences, their punishments including forced labor. The Mexican Press
went wild with reporting this event in newspapers, and Ignacio paid every media outlet off to report
that there were only 41 men in attendance and to keep his name as the 42nd out of the papers.
After withstanding some initial gossip, Ignacio and Amada were able to return to their normal
lives, attending charity functions and balls together. By 1911, society in Mexico had gone
from having a strong middle class to mostly consisting of the “Haves and the Have Nots.”
President Diaz resigned and President Madero took his place. Ignacio was no longer receiving
favorable treatment for his business, so he bought up newspapers to in an attempt to steer
the public’s support away from President Madero. Public sentiment became so strong against the
political leaders that a revolution was born. Amada’s cousin Felix lead a coup in which the
government was overthrown and several elected leaders, including Madero, lost their lives.
In the aftermath of the coup, life became dangerous and unstable for the wealthy elite,
so Ignacio and Amada headed out to the country side to lay low. Which in hindsight was a good
idea for them, because their house was stormed and seized by troops of General Pablo Gonzalez.
Ignacio was brutally arrested, and all of his assets and accounts were seized. He ended up
escaping prison and hiding amongst cargo on a steam ship headed for New York City,
but passed away from the complications of his injuries shortly after arriving in 1918.
Much oh his seized property was then returned to Amada who lived a pretty comfortable life,
passing away in 1962. The mansion was never returned to her as the
new government decided to use it as it’s lottery headquarters.
As the years went on and the true scope of the costly maintenance became evident,
the mansion was torn down and replaced with an art deco skyscraper to serve the same purpose.
There are several pieces of information that I left out of this story to remain family friendly,
but if you are interested in the darker side of Mexico’s history,
there are some truly shocking stories out there revolving around the Diaz family
and Ignacio’s fate which you can find by doing some pretty basic google searches.
If you enjoyed this video, leave a like and hit that subscribe button.
I would also like to take a moment to say a very special thank you to our
"ThisHouse" Supporters whose names you can see on screen right now.
If you would like to see your name on this screen and contribute in part to the production
of these videos. Join our membership program today. I’ll see you next time on "ThisHouse"