Back in 1907, very few countries had Embassies in a handful of capitals around the world. The usual form of diplomacy consisted of a Legation, headed by an Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Minister. At that time, Sir ReginaldTower, Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, was the British Minister in Mexico.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mexico and the United Kingdom in 1825, ReginaldTower'spredecessors had failed to find a rented property to house the British Legation. This had to serve the dual purpose of residence for the Minister andLegation Offices.

In early 1907, the Minister was offered a plot of land where to build the Legation. It was in the outskirts of Mexico City, on Paseo de la Reforma, which the Minister described –in a letter to the Department of Public Works in London- as “an avenue that will soon become one of the most important boulevards in the world, in the most beautiful and convenient of the capital city”, near the then Glorieta Fernández (nowadays Necaxa Square), in colonia Cuauhtémoc. The land had a cost of £7,000, which the Department of Public Works found too expensive.

Disappointed by the negative response received from London, Sir Reginald started looking at other alternatives, including coloniaAmericana (lately Zona Rosa) and Roma. The American Embassy and the Japanese, Spanish and the Austro-Hungarian Empire Legations were located in this “new and big new neighbourhood” of colonia Roma. However, Sir Reginald informed Londonthat: “the soil in this area is muddy and it is full of mosquitoes. I would regret if the British Legation were built in this neighbourhood, although itdoes have some advantages”.

Back then there were no streets South Chapultepec Ave., nor West today’s Varsovia Street.

 

Sir Reginald insisted on buying the land in Cuauhtémoc, in particular a plot owned by John Benjamin Body. Although Public Works officials in London had agreed to wait forsome time before making a decision on the land where the Legation would bebuilt, they decided to hold a meeting with Sir Reginald and Mr Body that summerin London. Itwas not easy to arrange the meeting. Finally, a junior official, Mr Downer, met with htem on 9 August and a decision to buy Mr Body’s property was made. This is where the Embassy was built. A purchase contract was signed on 4 May 1910. Public property records date back to 1882, when Salvador Malo and Ana Rivas Malo sold the property to a developer. Everything was ready to start building the house of the Legation.

Short after that, a distinguished British architect, Charles Grove Johnson, who lived in Mexico, submitted design proposals to the Department of Public Works in London, with an estimated cost of  £12,000 and £15,000. A decision was made to use reinforced concrete, since the sub-soil, 5 feet under, was “more or less muddy” and to appoint S. Pearson and Son Sucesores S.A. When Johnson’s plans reached the desk of the Department of Public Works, however, the new estimation had gone up to as much as £35,000, “an absolutely prohibitive” amount of money. Public Works officials decided to cut out a ballroom and aconservatory, and they also ruled out the possibility of using marble or onyxin the finishing, as Johnson’s plans proposed. Once amendments to the planswere made –despite Johnson’s reluctance- the final estimated cost came down to £22,000.

Building works started in 1910, and the House of the Legation was almost finished in July 1911.

Having survived a strong earthquake–fortunately with no damages- the building welcomed guests of then MinisterT.B. Hohler, who had attended a reception on the occasion of King George V and Queen Mary’s coronation. They were all very pleased about what they saw. Hohlerthen wrote to London reporting: “His Excellency, President Porfirio Díaz, expressed great satisfaction when entering the first Legation purchased and built by a foreign government in Mexico”.

Not much is known about the history of this building during the times of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917), but the first British Minister to occupy the building was Francis Stronge (1911-1913). Records indicate that while furniture had not been received from London and two rooms were full of pests, Minister Stronge was very pleased with the house. His main complaints had to do with the fact that English servants could not cook in the current conditions. He requested new staff and determined candidates had to be efficient and good at economising, since the ton of good quality charcoal had a cost of 3 sterling.

 

Again, records indicate that the property continued to be the residence of the Minister and Legation offices until 1938, when diplomatic relations between the UK and Mexico broke off as a result of the expropriation of British interests in the oil industry by President Lázaro Cárdenas. Following the reinstatement of diplomatic relations in 1941, the building was mainly used as offices mainly. A new part of the complex was built in 1971, which now houses the Consulate. This resulted from a proposal of Regional Information Councellor N.E. Cox, who returned to Mexico in 1977 as Her Majesty’s Ambassador. What was a huge rose garden in the past was reduced as a result of a remodelling to accommodate the car park. Nowadays,the building is an absolutely functional office building, where over 90 people work.