San Rafael, Mexico City — Area Guide & Where to Stay

What are the main landmarks in San Rafael?

Six names carry San Rafael in the record. Mother's Monument stands at the head of them, and the Museo Experimental el Eco sits a few streets from the mansion rows the colonia was founded on. Faith takes two forms here.

The British Chapel and Maná, Museo de la Biblia stand near the Museo Casa de Carranza and SimiCasa, four addresses that give the colonia more small institutions than its size suggests.

What is the history of San Rafael?

Established in the late 19th century, San Rafael was among the first formal neighbourhoods outside the old city centre, and it drew the wealth of the Porfirio Díaz era into large houses built with French influence. Many of those houses survive. A middle class arrived soon after, and a century of building and rebuilding layered further styles onto the same streets, including some of the first works by Luis Barragán. 383 buildings hold a historic classification.

Where is San Rafael?

San Rafael lies west of the historic city centre inside Cuauhtémoc, its blocks holding mansions from one era and rebuilt frontages from several others.