The Embassy of the United Kingdom in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

is the chief

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The Embassy is located on

Paseo de la Reforma Paseo de la Reforma (translated as "Promenade of the Reform") is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. It was designed at the behest of Emperor Maximilian by Ferdinand von Rosenzweig during the era of the Secon ...

350 20th Floor, Torre del Angel. The current British Ambassador to Mexico is Jon Benjamin. The former location of the Embassy was in Rio Lerma 71, in the

Colonia Cuauhtémoc Colonia may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Colonia (music group), a Croatian dance music group * ''Colonia'' (Autopsia album), 2002 * ''Colonia'' (A Camp album), 2009 * ''Colonia'' (film), a 2015 historical romantic thriller Places * Coloni ...

neighbourhood.

History

Embajada del Reino Unido en la Ciudad de México

By 1907, very few countries maintained embassies in a few capitals around the world. The usual form of diplomatic mission was a ''

Legation A legation was a diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an ambassador, a legation was headed by a Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, minister. Ambassadors diplomatic rank, out ...

'', headed by a ''Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary''. At that time the British minister in Mexico was Sir

Reginald Tower Sir Reginald Thomas Tower (1 September 186021 January 1939) was a British diplomat whose career lasted from 1885 to 1920.Who's Who UK online Early life Tower was educated at Harrow School and then Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated ...

. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mexico and the United Kingdom, in 1825, Sir Reginald Tower's predecessors had tried unsuccessfully to find a suitable rented premises for the ''"House of the Legation"'', as it was then called. In addition, it had to serve as both a house for the minister and offices. After a series of negotiations, in May 1910 the land in ''Rio Lerma'' to build the Embassy was acquired from John Benjamin Body (representative in Mexico of Messrs S. Pearson and Son). Shortly thereafter, Charles Grove Johnson, an English architect living in Mexico, submitted his designs to the

Office of Works The Office of Works was established in the England, English Royal Household, royal household in 1378 to oversee the building and maintenance of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department forces within the Office of W ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Construction of the building began in September 1910. The original work included the use of

onyx Onyx primarily refers to the parallel banded variety of chalcedony, a silicate mineral. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands. The c ...

and

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

, as well as the construction of a ballroom. After surviving the

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

of June 7, 1911, the building was visited by the guests of then Minister

Thomas Hohler Sir Thomas Beaumont Hohler (15 March 1871 — 23 April 1946) was a British diplomat. He was born in St George Hanover Square, London, the sixth son of Henry Booth Hohler of Fawkham Manor near Gravesend and Henrietta Wilhelmina Lawes. His old ...

, who were attending a reception for the

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...

and Queen Mary. Hohler reported to London: "His Excellency,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...

, expressed his great satisfaction at entering the first Legation owned and built by a foreign government in Mexico." The first of the British ministers to occupy the Legation was Sir

Francis Stronge Sir Francis William Stronge (22 November 1856 – 20 August 1924), was a senior British diplomat and the second son of Sir John Calvert Stronge and Lady Margaret Stronge. Sir Francis never inherited the baronetcy but was later knighted in his ow ...

(1911-1913). Even though the furniture had not arrived from London and two rooms were infested with

pests PESTS was an anonymous American activist group formed in 1986 to critique racism, tokenism, and exclusion in the art world. PESTS produced newsletters, posters, and other print material highlighting examples of discrimination in gallery represent ...

, Stronge was very pleased with the house. Not much is known about the history of the Embassy during the period of the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

(1910-1920), when the diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken between 1914 and 1925. The building remained the home of the Minister and offices of the Legation until 1938 when diplomatic relations were broken again as a result of the

expropriation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of British interests in the

oil industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The larges ...

by President

Lázaro Cárdenas Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Born in Jiquilpan, Michoacán, to a working-class family, Cárdenas joined the M ...

. After the relations were resumed in 1941, the building was used mainly as offices. In the 1970s and 1980s, expansions were made that allowed more than 100 people to work in the building. The

of September 19, 2017 caused structural damage to the building. In 2021, the Embassy was moved to Torre del Angel in

References

External links

* {{UK diplomatic missions

Buildings and structures in Mexico City Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City Mexico–United Kingdom relations

History

See also

References

External links