We all identify the large housing units of the city: Tlatelolco, CUPA, Balbuena, El Rosario and even Unidad Independencia, however, few know that the first housing building in the CDMX is the Buen Tono or Edificio Mascota, on Bucareli Street.
At the end of the 19th century, French businessman Ernesto Pugibet and his wife Guadalupe Portilla founded the Buen Tono cigarette factory; Pugibet had learned the trade in Cuba and Guadalupe Portilla had the capital to start the company. Since its founding, the Buen Tono company grew rapidly due to the quality of its products - it was the first cigarette company in Mexico not to use glue - and its advertising.
What had started as a small artisan enterprise soon became an expanding international business. In 1890, the land that belonged to the Convent of the Nuns of San Juan de la Penitencia was purchased; today this area houses the famous Telephone Tower and the Central Train Control Post of the Metro. In the 19th century it was home to the Buen Tono cigar factory and a church that the businessman ordered to be built and which can still be visited.
As the company grew, it became necessary to optimize work logistics. It was decided to provide housing for some of the workers to avoid having to travel all over the city every day to get to the factory. For this project, Pugibet turned to the engineer Miguel Ángel de Quevedo, with whom he had already worked on other projects such as the "Buen Tono" church.
Pugibet bought the land where the Plaza de Toros Bucareli used to be and it was here, between 1912 and 1913, where the first housing unit in Mexico City was built: the "La Mascota" building. The project, designed by Miguel Angel de Quevedo, consisted of 176 homes distributed in three privates: Gardenia, Mascota and Ideal - names of cigarette brands. Each house has two or three bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, two bathrooms, one or two small patios and some with a basement.
The construction cost 2,500,000 pesos at the time, and the most modern technology was used for its construction: prefabricated concrete and steel, and reinforced on site. It is said that the houses facing the street were destined for senior workers, while those facing the inner courtyards were for laborers.
After building the "Mascota", two more units were built in the Doctores neighborhood: one between the streets of Doctor Navarro, Doctor Carmona y Valle, Doctor Liceaga and Doctor Lucio - being the largest - and the third on the streets of Doctor Navarro, Doctor Lucio and Doctor Liceaga. Both units were destroyed, so the only building that remains is the "Mascota" building.
