- Paperback: 176 pages
- Publisher: Chronicle Books (4 Oct 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0811828069
- ISBN-13: 978-0811828062
- Product Dimensions: 25.7 x 24.1 x 1.7 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,159,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
A sensual, poetic introduction and descriptive captions accompany 250 vibrant photographs of twenty one of Mexico's most lovely haciendas. Melba Levick's vibrant photos showcase the stunning architecture, lush grounds, colorful interiors, and rich artistry that permeates every corner of Mexican life. With an introduction to Mexican architecture, profiles of each hotel, and an extensive directory listing all of the contact information for each featured inn, Melba Levick has created an indispensable resource book as well as a celebration of Mexican life and art.
About the Author
Photographer MELBA LEVICK has published over 25 books on travel, architecture and design in Europe and America. Her numerous feature articles have appeared in magazines and reviews both here and abroad. Recent books include Mexicolor (Chronicle Books), Reflections on the Pool (Rizzoli New York), Gaudi in Barcelona (Ed Poligrafa, Barcelona and Rizzoli, New York), Living in the Sun (Chronicle Books, San Francisco) and Beautiful Spas and Hotsprings of California (Chronicle books). She divides her time between Los Angeles, Paris and Spain with her husband, composer and writer Hugh Levick. GINA HYAMS Since moving to Mexico in 1997, writer Gina Hyams has worked as a correspondent for Fodor's Travel Publications and has contributed articles to Salon.com and Newsweek. Her gift box on making memorial altars, The Day of the Dead Box, is forthcoming from Chronicle Books (Fall 2001).
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First Sentence
The entrance veranda features striking original walls stenciled in pale blue, red, white, and gray geometric patterns. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The entrance veranda features striking original walls stenciled in pale blue, red, white, and gray geometric patterns. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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6 reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Give your coffee table a treat
21 Jun 2002
Format:Paperback
What Gina Hyams and Melba Levick have created here is a wonderful compilation of photos of 21 of Mexico's most spectacular and beautiful inns and bed & breakfast places.
Melba Levick must have had a ball taking these shots. There's hardly a picture that isn't beautiful in its own right - and there must be at least 300 of them. For this observer, the Mexican talent for blending and matching and mixing colors is the highlight of page after page. We see gardens and patios and pool areas and bedroom and dining areas and a host of living spaces where the eye is simply enchanted by the way the owners of these homes have decorated their various spaces. My own personal favorite is, of all things, a bathroom wall composed of talavera tiles where almost no two tiles on the wall match each other.
All the houses are fully described by Gina Hyams and in most cases she gives us anecdotes and stories about how the various places came about. Thus, for instance, in Hacienda Katanchel in the Yucatan,we read that the present owners discovered the place in 1996. It had been abandoned for 35 years and originally dated back to the 17th century. So what they acquired were 740 acres of dense jungle in which were buried many crumbling buildings with trees growing through walls and ceilings. They gradually cleared the mess away and started building and renovating in a blend of Mexican, Mayan and Spanish styles. And you should see the place now.
On a less ambitious scale, we read about Mesón Sacristia de la Compañia in Puebla. This began as a family-run antique store which the owners turned into a restaurant and then an inn. It has one extra little twist for people who stay there - everything in the place is for sale. The owners are continually having to replace dishes and furniture.
And so the stories go... Pick up a copy and give your coffee table a treat.
Melba Levick must have had a ball taking these shots. There's hardly a picture that isn't beautiful in its own right - and there must be at least 300 of them. For this observer, the Mexican talent for blending and matching and mixing colors is the highlight of page after page. We see gardens and patios and pool areas and bedroom and dining areas and a host of living spaces where the eye is simply enchanted by the way the owners of these homes have decorated their various spaces. My own personal favorite is, of all things, a bathroom wall composed of talavera tiles where almost no two tiles on the wall match each other.
All the houses are fully described by Gina Hyams and in most cases she gives us anecdotes and stories about how the various places came about. Thus, for instance, in Hacienda Katanchel in the Yucatan,we read that the present owners discovered the place in 1996. It had been abandoned for 35 years and originally dated back to the 17th century. So what they acquired were 740 acres of dense jungle in which were buried many crumbling buildings with trees growing through walls and ceilings. They gradually cleared the mess away and started building and renovating in a blend of Mexican, Mayan and Spanish styles. And you should see the place now.
On a less ambitious scale, we read about Mesón Sacristia de la Compañia in Puebla. This began as a family-run antique store which the owners turned into a restaurant and then an inn. It has one extra little twist for people who stay there - everything in the place is for sale. The owners are continually having to replace dishes and furniture.
And so the stories go... Pick up a copy and give your coffee table a treat.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Beautiful pictoral essay of historic Mexican inns and hotels
12 April 2003
Format:Paperback
This book is good, maybe even great, but still can't compare to Melba Levick and Masako Takahashi's AWESOME "Mexicolor". Masako's other book, "Mexican Tiles" comes close, and still edges out "Mexicasa" a little bit as well, so when all is said and done I think I just have to chalk it up to Masako's EVIDENT love and appreciation for the unfathomable beauty of things Mexican. Melba Levick seems to me to see things more from the outside looking in, and without so much PASSION, kind of like a more disinterested spectator than a participant, but that could just be my opinion.
That said, this book is is REALLY NICE. I DO really like it and I highly recommend it- especially if you already own and really liked "Mexicolor" and "Mexican Tiles". Or if you aren't so much into artesanias and Mexican interior design, but are more of an armchair traveler or are interested in actual historic hotels and haciendas.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
I wanna move to Mexico!
12 Jan 2004
Format:Paperback
You can almost feel the colours and shapes, taste the food and smell the flowers in this lavishly illustrated book on Mexican Haciendas and Hotels. I can see why allot of the people that started these Inns sold everything they had and moved to Mexico to start a new life. This book will be an inspiration to architects and would also make a great coffee table book. Be careful to check the binding when you get it. The glue on mine all fell off in chunks after the first read!
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