The architecture of the city is so rich that we can find in all its delegations from pre-Hispanic, colonial, art deco and huge skyscrapers. A landmark of modern architecture in the CDMX, which no longer exists, was undoubtedly Juan O'Gorman's Casa Cueva, where the architect materialized the concepts and ideals of organic architecture.
This trend is characterized by the search for harmony between nature and the functionality of the human habitat, i.e., that buildings integrate and relate to their environment. One of the main exponents of organic architecture was the American Frank Lloyd Wright, who aimed at unifying space, blending interiors with exteriors and creating harmonious spaces. Influenced by Lloyd Wright's thinking, O'Gorman imagined and built his Cave House.
With this work O'Gorman moved completely away from his previous work where straight lines and volumes were perfectly marked and delimited - as in the case of the studio house he built for Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. For O'Gorman the Casa Cueva, also known as the "cave house," was his most important work. "This house was, I consider, the only real creative work I have done. The others were more or less unoriginal," he said in a letter to writer and architectural critic Esther McCoy.
In 1949, O'Gorman bought #162 San Jeronimo in El Pedregal and here he built his house, which had a cave-room, this space emerged from the excavation of the volcanic stone; from it grew the rest of the spaces: a maid's room, a bathroom and kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a study, a terrace and a large garden, full of plants and flowers native to Mexico and above all, native to Pedregal; all of them carefully selected by Helen Fowler O'Gorman, sculptor, painter, and author of the book Plants and Flowers of Mexico, who was also the architect's wife.
And although the Cave House followed the postulates of organic architecture, the pre-Hispanic and national influences are also present: the ornamental elements represented different gods and symbols of the pre-Hispanic cultures of Mexico; even the façade has a mural that O'Gorman referred to as "Gods and symbols of ancient Mexico". The figures of Chaac and other pre-Hispanic gods, the suns, the moons, the jaguars and the two Judas at the main entrance of the Cave House, as well as the murals in the Central Library, were made of mosaics and stones that O'Gorman himself selected, and in the case of the Pedregal house, he himself, with the help of a single bricklayer, placed.
What happened to the Cave House?
Juan O'Gorman and his family lived in this house for 16 years, until 1969 when he decided to sell it to pay for his daughter's college education in the United States. The Casa Cueva was bought by sculptor Helen Escobedo, and although she had promised O'Gorman's wife that the house would not be torn down, this promise was not kept. And although the building was widely recognized by other architects and artists such as Diego Rivera and Frank Lloyd Wright himself, there was little protest or comment in Mexico regarding its destruction.
The art historian Ida Rodriguez Prampolini, during an appearance on Jacobo Zabludovsky's program, protested the destruction of the Casa Cueva, which led to her being kicked off the program. Mathias Goeritz, artist and husband of Ida Rodriguez, wrote several letters to different people and associations in the United States informing them of the destruction of the house. O'Gorman, for his part, desisted from any legal action because, during the purchase and sale of the house, he had signed an agreement that prevented him from interfering in the use and future of his work.
A new building was constructed on this site, which for many years was the headquarters of the Fermatta music school. And although it was not appreciated at the time, the Casa Cueva de O'Gorman is today considered one of the most important works of architecture in the city, which we can see and appreciate through photographs and models.