When Catherine Schneider bought her vacation home in Reparto Dolores Patrón, a neighborhood close to central Merida in the Yucatan, Mexico, she did her research. It turns out, that hers was one of about a hundred houses built in 1928, as part of a public works initiative by the governor at the time. These concrete houses were small, about 4x8 meters, but each had their own courtyard and every two shared a wind vane to supply water. Each week, the local board conducted a lottery, and ownership of a single house was granted to the winner.

Before: Front Exterior

Nearly a century on, many of those original houses have been altered or added on to, whether to make room for garages or more living space, with some subject to complete teardown, in order to erect larger builds that crowd the lot line. Catherine's house had undergone such additions over the years, making for a disjointed interior and crumbling backyard. But she had no interest in tearing it down and starting from scratch, since the neighborhood's wide streets and charming original character were what had attracted her in the first place.

"I love this neighborhood, I've been told it's called the neighborhood of the grandparents," says Catherine, who lives primarily in Philadelphia. "We wanted to really honor the history."

After: Front Exterior

Catherine was relocating from the Centro, where she had admired a mixed-use building finished by local firm FMT Estudio, so she reached out to collaborate with architects Zaida Briceño Ramos and Orlando Valente Franco Carrillo on her Dolores remodel. "I grew up in a nearby area, so I have a lot of love for it," says Carrillo. "It was exciting to work with someone that understood the value of what is there, and our job was to dig it up and return it to its original essence."

Before: Front Facade

After: Front Facade

Catherine's brief to the firm was to streamline and expand the floor plan, so the four small rooms at the heart of the house became two larger ones: a living room, and a combined kitchen and dining room, all with airier proportions. The architects then lined the rear facade with a screened-in porch, and added stair access up to a second-level addition that has two guest suites for visiting family and room for a rooftop deck.

With the addition, "we took care of trying to keep the scale" of the building, says Carrillo, in order to ensure the remodel respected the neighborhood context. Other changes, like the iron and masonry fence at the sidewalk, are also considerate of neighbors. It was designed to facilitate impromptu chats across the front yard, something that's being lost with some new construction.

"Merida has been changing and evolving," says Carrillo. "We have a lot of colonial heritage, and that's what we're known for mostly, but that's only downtown. We've been experiencing a lot of change in the urban landscape. Lots of townhouses and tower apartments. Those things are reconfiguring the landscape and the old values. Knowing the person that you live across the street from is being lost."

Before: Entry Hall

After: Entry Hall

If the front is dedicated to neighborhood connection, the rear is all about alone time. There, FMT Estudio rehabilitated the rear courtyard, adding a pool and a standalone primary suite. In the mornings, Catherine likes to steal up to the roof deck on the main home to drink coffee and watch the parrots zoom overhead.

After: Dining Room

After: Kitchen

After: Living Room

"I wanted a serene home, a place where I could come and recharge," says Catherine, who recently retired from the textile industry. "I worked in textiles, so I have a love of craft and architecture, and Mexico is an exciting place right now for craft and traditional techniques being used in modern ways."

The home's material palette reflects that. It was kept minimal from inside to out, being primarily iron, concrete, wood, and marble, with an emphasis on local materials and traditional methods applied in new ways. On the exterior, "we worked with iron because iron is really important in the area," says Briceño Ramos, pointing to the fence and custom metal window screens. "Since most of the houses look the same, we experimented with different shapes with the iron."

After: Screened Porch

Inside, plaster walls meet door thresholds that are covered in concrete, then given a slight hammered texture for differentiation. The wood windows, made from a local hardwood that is more durable to the humidity and insects, have a custom muntin pattern that reflects traditional designs from the 1920s.

"There are lots of things that took time [to make]," says Carrillo. "There are hands behind them that make the house stand out. It's something that you need to live inside to appreciate, but there's a lot of care."

Before: Backyard

After: Rear Exterior

After: Bedroom Suite

Before: Backyard

After: Pool

After: Primary Suite

Project Credits:

Architecture: FMT Estudio (@fmt.estudio)

Builder: Proyecciones Civiles

Structural Engineer: Luis Alfonso Díaz Cabañas

Civil Engineer: Luis Alfonso Díaz Cabañas

Lighting Design: FMT Estudio

Interior Design: FMT Estudio

Cabinetry: FMT Estudio and Proyessiones Civiles

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Before & After: In Merida, a Remodeled Concrete Bungalow Honors Tradition