Part of the social whirl I described earlier involved a sneak preview of a boutique inn that opens soon.
Let me back up a bit. According to Trip Advisor, 83 hotels and 53 bed-and-breakfasts, many of them mediocre at best, vie for your business when you visit Mérida. We love having so many options, and in seven trips we’ve gotten to know a variety of neighborhoods. I can’t help but think that there’s going to be a shakeout as the bar rises higher and higher. First, we were pampered at beautiful Casa del Maya, which will heighten everyone’s expectations of a guesthouse.
And tomorrow another new contender opens, and it’s jaw-dropping. (Anyone who cares about architecture and historic preservation also has reason to cheer.) On Calle 56, near 55, there was a sleeping giant, staged to be a hotel but left unsold for years. Then two guys from Ohio (one with a Westin Hotel pedigree) came down and repaired, renovated and polished it. They rebuilt the pool, hung new chandeliers, and installed tasteful contemporary furniture and décor. I feel that somehow I’m making it all sound so simple, but of course this was a herculean effort. They painted the facade green. Now, this gorgeous 250-year-old casona is called Villa Verde Merida. And it’s in the expert hands of its dashing owners, Michael and Robert.
Four guest rooms open to the front courtyard (above), and a fifth opens to the pool, where daily happy hour will take the edge off those lazy Mérida afternoons. Location is great, too. Guests will have a quick walk to the main square, the Paseo de Montejo, and Santa Lucia park. Read more and see a sideshow here.
As it is with all grand properties, photos don’t do them justice. You’ll have to picture yourself standing on busy Calle 56 before huge mahogany double doors, ringing the bell. The doors open and you immediately hear the trickle of water fountains and see a glimpse of the softly lit courtyard. The doors close behind you and the street noise vanishes. You immediately relax, feeling slightly dazed by your surroundings as you walk along the colonnade. Before long, you’re by the pool, a refreshment is in your hand and you contemplate canceling your jaunt to Chichen Itza and schedule a massage instead.
Buenas Dias everyone from Villa Verde Merida. Cholo is correct in saying that the previous owners had done extensive work to this beautiful property. One of the previous owners lives here still in Merida and can attest to our changes.We are on good terms and he has even given us the original blueprints and his photo collection of HIS renovation. A great guy!
) is that Villa Verde (previously Casa Jaguares) has indeed gone through over a year of extensive renovation through our talented contractor, Raul Cervera. Lee mentions the new pool, electrical and plumbing work. We also redid the roofs, walls and made many additions. We invite you to visit and view our photo albums documenting our changes and also applauding all the local talented craftsmen who made the property what it is today. Daniel, our carpenter has built the new cabinetry for both kitchens, new closets and vanity tops- all that had suffered from termite infestation. Daniel also built the new screen doors and windows to perfectly match the existing antique mahogany and cedar that survived. Our lighting fixtures and iron and marble furnishings were recently designed and forged by Mario, the owner of Candilles y Decoracion on Calle 59. The magnificent grand chandeliers in the sala and the comedor were designed by Keith Heitke of Worldstudio International, and forged by his iron man, Rogelio. The armoires, beds and china cupboards were hand built by Jorge from Yucatan Custom Furniture. The upholstered pieces were recently done by Joel Sosa and the fabrics were chosen by me at Parisina. Our new gardens and plants were lovingly installed by our landscaper Hector. The list goes on but these fine workers and craftsmen who have worked here at Villa Verde for over a year cannot be dismissed by your comments. Again, we appreciate all that was done before our ownership- it is an extraordinary space, but you are quite mistaken with dates, some facts and comments. Please join us for a drink here at Villa Verde and peruse our renovation albums and familiarize yourself with all of the beautiful hand crafted pieces that were done right here recently in our beautiful Merida!
We of course did not alter this magnificent architecture. The photos you cite that were online are the very photos that drew us here to view the property. Where you are unfortunately incorrect ( we wish it had been move-in-ready- we would have opened a year ago!
Saludos,
Villa Verde Merida
We are coming to Merida for a month, in March, glad to find your blog, I will be following it for some insight and tips.
Thanks
Thanks for that! I hope the March weather is good. Enjoy your travels!
Casa Verde was Casa del Jaguar a few years ago. The “re-do” was actually done by others, I believe. Or at the very least major parts of the restoration were already done, bringing the casona back from the ‘dead.’
The photos on the Casa Verde website seem not greatly changed from Casa del Jaguar: http://www.casayucatanrealestate.com/Detalle_Propiedad.php?id=31&idioma=americano&venta_renta=venta
As I said, it was staged as a hotel. Michael and Bob had a lot of work to do, including rebuilding a caved-in pool and bringing in new fixtures, upgrading wiring, patching leaks, etc. Furniture is all new, too. It wasn’t quite the turn-key operation it may have appeared on that listing, and it sat uncared for for more than a few years, so by the time they got it, Jaguar was in rough shape. They deserved a lot of credit.
Casa del Jaguar opened as a B&B in 2005, which is when we first saw the restoration and still current layout while enjoying wonderful food, drinks and hospitality. It operated through sometime in 2008. While it may have been only staged as a hotel while recently for sale, it actually was in operation as one not awfully long ago. Perhaps rather than staged, the hotel furniture was left in place once the business closed?
Kudos to the owners for their repairs, updates, improvements, and energy to re-open as the Villa Verde B&B. All adventurous entrepreneurs deserve congratulations and good wishes for their business ventures.
My comment was simply meant to convey that the house had not remained abandoned for centuries, or decades prior to now, but four to five years at the longest. The massive rebuild from sadly typical decay of a once-elegant enormous abandoned home, aggregation of lots into one property, and layout of major features, was completed fewer than 10 years ago. The garden through the gate beside the pool was still under construction in 2005.
Kudos, indeed! Hopefully Villa Verde will have a long, long run.
It never fails to amaze me how you always have your finger on the pulse that is Merida! How do you do that?
Channeling mental illness helps a little.