This Hotel Highlights Mexico City’s Art Deco Past, Redesigned for Right Now

In Condesa, a 1947 apartment building has been reborn as a 19-room boutique hotel, and the original green tile and stained glass are still the stars.
I knew Mexico City would surprise me. I didn’t expect it to feel so familiar. On my first morning in the La Condesa neighborhood, walking under the trees toward Parque México, I kept trying to name the feeling, and then it clicked: this city offers elements of Barcelona and Savannah at the same time. It has the cosmopolitan, stay-out-late energy of a European capital, yet neighborhoods like Condea and Roma Norte are wrapped in so much green that they feel like a walkable Southern town. Those are my two favorite cities, so I was hooked before I finished my first coffee.

The hotel I came home to each night, Hotel San Fernando, turned out to be the perfect lens for that feeling. Here the city’s past isn’t a design theme. It’s the actual building.

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A 1947 apartment block, reborn

Hotel San Fernando, with rooms from $199 per night, sits on Iztaccíhuatl Street in the Hipódromo area of Condesa, inside Edificio San Fernando, an Art Deco apartment building completed in 1947. Austin-based Bunkhouse Hotels worked with Mexico City studio Reurbano to turn it into a 19-room hotel without sanding off what made it special.

You feel this the second you arrive. The front doors keep the building’s original curved metal panes, fitted with new glass made to echo the historic stained glass. Inside, the corridor is wrapped, floor and walls, in the original soft green encaustic tile with an abstract white pattern. It felt less like checking into a hotel and more like being buzzed into a friend’s prewar apartment, the kind of building I’d expect to find in New York. It felt cozy and warm right away.

Wainscoting lines the halls, and an oblong open spiral staircase rises five floors to the roof under tiered rattan pendants. Then there’s the stained glass in the hallway, in deep turquoise, emerald, lavender, and ochre. I stopped to film it more than once. You just don’t see features like this in new hotels, and it’s the reason to stay here over any of the other boutique hotels in Condesa.

Most of the art and objects come from close to home: work by Mexico City artists Pedro Friedeberg and Ricardo Guevara, a piece by Texas artist Cruz Ortiz, lounge chairs from CDMX showroom Originario, and a lobby shop stocked with Mexican-made ceramics, straw totes, and blankets alongside Bunkhouse-branded pieces you can only buy on-site.

Rooms at Hotel San Fernando

I stayed in Room 205 on the second floor. The rooms keep the building’s apartment bones and layer on color: walls blocked in punchy coral, warm-stained built-ins by Mexico City furniture studio La Metropolitana with teal and green edges, deep-red ceramic bedside lamps hand-pinched by artisans from Oaxaca studio Oaxifornia, and plants that make the space feel lived-in. The dishware and textiles represent the style of the neighborhood.

My room had a kitchenette. I barely cooked, but I used the pour-over coffee maker, a Chemex-style setup, each morning. And the robes, Bunkhouse’s own kimono-style design, were so soft that I seriously considered how much space was left in my suitcase. (I left it behind, barely). Linens and towels are by Kassatex, and bath products are by Malin+Goetz.

Rooms range from Sencillas of about 220 to 250 square feet up to Ocio Suites as large as 595 square feet, large enough to sleep a small group. If you want outdoor space, book a Vivienda or a rooftop Terraza Suite, which both have private balconies.

There’s no elevator, so expect stairs. That makes the hotel a tough pick for travelers with mobility needs or heavy luggage. Bathrooms are on the small side. Lower-floor rooms pick up street noise, and Condesa stays lively late. It didn’t bother me one bit, but light sleepers should ask for a higher floor. The hotel is also dog-friendly.

Lounge Fernando and the rooftop

The lobby bar, Lounge Fernando, sits behind arched doorways lacquered in rose pink, with soft green walls, a clay-tile bar topped in marble, and a chandelier by Mexico City designer Rebeca Cors. The cocktail list leans on spirits you’ll rarely find outside Mexico, like pox, sotol, bacanora and raicilla, and the food runs to shareable plates like empanadas, tostadas, and tacos. I went alcohol-free with the Genjibrada, a mocktail of ginger ale, cucumber, chia, and lemon. It was bright and refreshing, and it got as much care as anything on the cocktail side of the menu. On a Saturday night, the lounge became the best room in the building. A guitarist and a singer played Spanish-language lounge music while the lights stayed low and the candles flickered. It was a whole mood. I loved that the hotel builds in a bit of cultural programming for guests instead of leaving every evening to the neighborhood.

The morning scene happens upstairs. The rooftop lounge is open only to guests and edged with breeze blocks that echo the curves of the stained glass. The lounge serves a complimentary breakfast of fresh fruit and pan dulce, and the chilaquiles were the standout for me. They’re my favorite Mexican breakfast, so my bar is high, and they cleared it. Eating them in the open air above Condesa is a very good way to start a day.

The neighborhood

The location is the hotel’s other big asset. Parque México is steps away. It’s the green heart of Condesa, with shady paths, fountains, and what seems like every dog in the city out for a walk. That’s where the Savannah feeling hit hardest.

Within a few blocks you’ll find Tacos Atarantados, a TikTok favorite, and El Moro for churros. Plonk, a Michelin Bib Gourmand pick in both 2025 and 2026, is right next door. I picked up perfume at Perfumérica and found a great upcycled piece digging through the vintage shops nearby. Condesa rewards wandering, and the hotel puts you right in the middle of it.

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