“Casa ITESO Clavigero is an example of heritage conservation”

Ximena Torres

On September 9, 1999, in a context of technological advancement, ITESO purchased an old house. This was not a contradiction, but rather the careful selection of an artistic property that, precisely, expresses modernity through tradition, according to experts such as Dolores Martínez, Deputy Director General of Immovable Artistic Heritage at the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL, formerly INBA), and Ignacio Gómez Arreola, who has worked as a specialist consultant for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on world heritage.

This is what used to be the house of the family of Efraín González Luna, located on Calle del Bosque — today called Calle José Guadalupe Zuno in the Colonia Americana — and built by Luis Barragán Morfín, the greatest representative of the so-called Tapatío School of Architecture.

From its creation in 1928 to the present day as Casa ITESO Clavigero, much of the estate has been transformed: where there was once a lime orchard, it became a swimming pool and then a terrace for cultural activities; the fronton court is now part of the cafeteria, and the bedrooms, library, and kitchen are exhibition spaces. But the essence, the construction techniques, and the materials have been preserved, making the building a “heritage to be enjoyed,” as Ignacio Gómez says.

Twenty years ago, the Ministry of Public Education (SEP), through the National Institute of Fine Arts (INBA), declared the ITESO Clavigero House a National Artistic Monument due to its historical and cultural value to the identity of Guadalajara and Mexico. Therefore, on May 7, 2026, those who worked to revitalize the spirit of the building and ensure its preservation gathered there to celebrate.

Carlos Petersen, architect and member of the Luis Barragán Tapatía Architecture Foundation, was one of the special guests. After ITESO purchased the house, he served on the subcommittee in charge of the adaptation, conservation, and restoration work to transform it into a cultural space.
Petersen recalls that the university had just undergone an academic reform that created the departments of studies and also the Metaprogram for Cultural Articulation and Dissemination, headed by Raúl Fuentes Navarro. To fulfill their commission, he and his team were certain that it was necessary to rehabilitate a property located in the interior of Guadalajara.

After the selection and purchase process, they dedicated themselves to renovating the house under a series of guiding principles. Among them were that it was an intervention on a house of heritage value designed by Luis Barragán, that they were changing its use from residential to institutional, that the work should be a pedagogical reference for “development without destruction,” and that the restoration should be done with the original materials and techniques.

Laboratory studies were conducted to determine and replicate the chemical composition of the original plasters and paints, as well as technical tests to match the handmade plaster; the new electrical and hydraulic installations were installed on the exterior walls so as not to modify the interiors, and other care actions were carried out that allowed the opening of the house to the public in 2001 and, later, the declaration of the SEP.

For Dolores Martínez, the reconfiguration of buildings like Casa ITESO Clavigero—originally designed for residential use seeking privacy and comfort—is a success and a key strategy for comprehensive conservation. In these processes, there is a constant tension between adaptation and preservation, but “20th-century architecture is so noble [...] that the creativity of a comprehensive team makes possible the successful operation, management, and maintenance of a revitalization like the one we are now enjoying,” she affirmed during the event.

The key to success for economic profitability and heritage conservation lies, then, in a symbiosis between private investment and supervision by local and federal authorities, provided that the former do not evaluate their participation as a simple real estate operation, but as a co-responsibility for safeguarding cultural heritage.

“Since its inception as a cultural center, [the ITESO Clavigero House] has carried out its functions based on the preservation of the Jesuit legacy, sustained reflection on the existence of the city and, of course, the exploration, dissemination and conservation of heritage,” said Martínez in recognition of the preservation work that ITESO has carried out since it crossed paths with Barragán's work.

A house of value to the world

In a couple of years, the university's cultural center will become a centennial monument with a promising future ahead. During the event commemorating the anniversary of its designation, restorer Ignacio Gómez Arreola reflected on one of the most exciting opportunities for the building's future: its inclusion on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

In Mexico, there are 37 sites that are part of this classification of objects of outstanding universal value for all humanity. According to Gómez Arreola, the ITESO Clavigero House can be included due to its ingenious harmonization between innovative construction systems and the application of traditional arts and crafts knowledge.

“Right now, a construction foreman might no longer know how to do a good plastering (like on the walls of a house), or he does it and it will only last five years, because there is no good craftsmanship, arts and trades of construction,” explained the expert architect from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

But an even more important factor in taking the property's nomination seriously is that Luis Barragán's House-Studio has been part of the UNESCO list since 2004. When this work in Mexico City received recognition for "synthesizing past and present" and for its impact on urban landscape design, the international organization recommended extending the inscription of the architect's work through other built projects of his.

“Here there is a niche, the possibility for this to continue to advance, as it has done since its restoration and successful management, and what this house can represent in a broad context, not only at the level of the city or the nation, but of the entire world,” Gómez Arreola assured.

Before continuing the celebration with a toast, the panelists remembered all those who made it possible for the estate to become ITESO's window to the city. Among them were: David Fernández Dávalos, SJ, Salvador Ibarra Álvarez del Castillo, Carlos Luna, Cristina Romo, Rossana Reguillo, and many more.