Casa Amarilla

What it has been. The house was built in 1618, intended as a convent and a place of rest for Franciscan friars. It later became the home of the Marquis de las Amarillas, Agustín de Ahumada y Villalón —which is where the name comes from— and after that a summer residence. Few buildings in the city carry that many changes of use in one set of walls.

What to see. The interest is the architecture: thick colonial walls, a courtyard and the yellow render that gives the house its name, in a part of Coyoacán where that scale survives intact. It now serves as a cultural and community building, so what is open depends on the day's programme.

Getting there. In Coyoacán, within walking distance of the Jardín Centenario and Avenida Francisco Sosa. Coyoacán and Viveros-Derechos Humanos stations on metro Line 3 are about twenty minutes away on foot.