CASA DE LA BOLA AND PARQUE LIRA

This medium-sized park is a little corner of leafy tranquility amid the avenues of Tacubaya. It is easily reached from Metro Tacubaya or via taxi along Avenida Parque Lira or Avenida Observatorio. Giving a magnificent taste of what life was like in Tacubaya during its era of colonial glory is the Casa de la Bola, an unusual and little-known museum in an old mansion in a corner of the park. Step off the noisy avenues through the doors of the Casa de la Bola, and the blissfully calm courtyard and garden will make the city seem a distant dream.

  Built in the early 17th century, this lovely mansion (Av. Parque Lira 136, tel. 5515-8825, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Sun. or by appointment, admission $2.50) was first the home of Mexico’s grand inquisitor, after which it changed hands frequently over the years before its last owner, Antonio Haghenbeck y de la Lama, donated it to the government in the 1940s. Haghenbeck maintained the two-story house much as it had looked during the colonial era, supplementing the decor with his own unusually rich tastes, judging from all the fine furniture, tapestries, and artwork inside. Visitors see the house through a guided tour.

  At the northern end of Parque Lira is the Delegación Miguel Hidalgo building, the administrative offices for this part of the city. Evidently a former colonial hacienda, the sprawling red-brick complex has the Capilla de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe on site.

  Across Avenida Parque Lira, a several-block walk through the San Miguel Chapultepec neighborhood, is the first still-operating art gallery in Mexico City, Galería de Arte Mexicano (Gobernador Rafael Rebollar 43, tel. 5273-1261, artgam@prodigy.net.mx).