Page 166 - Libro Max Cetto

In Cetto’s Proximity Bettina Cetto

Some time ago, I was contacted by the residents of Río Pánuco 199, located in the
vicinity of the Melchor Ocampo 38 building. They wanted to know if the duplex –with
split-level apartments leading down to the high-ceilinged living room and dining room, the
bedroom on the upper floor and large windows modulated with vertical rectangles– was of
my father’s design. The layout, the stairs, the fireplace, the kitchen, the entryway, everything
was very Cetto. The plans held by the Max Cetto Archive at the uam Azcapotzalco only
show the central section of the apartments, not the entire building, and it had not been
cataloged. The photos were found in the folder on the artists’ building.
It is likely that Cetto designed it for Jorge Rubio. This was the opinion of Juan
11
Manuel Heredia, who expressed it at one point in our copious correspondence: “It’s Cetto’s
because of the drawings and the handwriting. For some reason I assume it was with Rubio be-
12
cause of its proximity to the other building.” He also told me that the only person who
had published it before, but without giving credit, was José Luis Benlliure in his 1983 text
on the architecture of the 1940s in Inbaʼs Cuadernos de Arquitectura.

Fig. 9 In the lower right, the image of the Río Pánuco 199 Fig. 10 Fireplace details for the Río Pánuco apartments. © Archivo
building that illustrates José Luis Benlliure’s text (Mexico: Max Cetto, UAM Azcapotzalco, Mexico.
INBA, 26-27, 1983).

11 In my opinion, it is Juan Manuel Heredia who has carried out the deepest research thus far into Cetto’s work. His
doctoral thesis, The Work of Max Cetto: Restorations of Topography and Disciplinarity in Twentieth Century Modern Architec-
ture, University of Pennsylvania, has unfortunately not yet been published in book form, but I keep insisting to its author
that this happen.
12 The full quote is as follows: “I believe it’s Cetto’s because of the drawings and the handwriting. For some reason I
assume it was with Rubio because of its proximity to the other building by them. It may have been with Barragán but I
doubt it, because this has never been mentioned. The original staircase mimics those by Breuer and Gropius in those years,
and reappears in Cetto’s Crevenna House at Avenida San Jerónimo 136. The only person who has published it before, but
without giving credit, was José Luis Benlliure in his 1983 text on the architecture of the 1940s. I mentioned it in my thesis,
but only in relation to the staircase.”

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