What’s the architecture like in Yucatan: Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Merida, etc?

I have a friend here in Yucatan who has plans to build a very contemporary house with huge big deck, lots of air-conditioned space, a huge swimming pool, and a 3-car garage.  The cost of building is substantially less expensive in Yucatan than in the United States because a good amount of the cost of construction is labor.
 
Here in Valladolid (half way between Cancun and Merida), the architecture is basically old colonial buildings that people live in or rehabbed. There is...

I have a friend here in Yucatan who has plans to build a very contemporary house with huge big deck, lots of air-conditioned space, a huge swimming pool, and a 3-car garage.  The cost of building is substantially less expensive in Yucatan than in the United States because a good amount of the cost of construction is labor.
 
Here in Valladolid (half way between Cancun and Merida), the architecture is basically old colonial buildings that people live in or rehabbed. There is also new construction. We have a friend who is the son of one of the major hotel owners and he is building a house right now that is about 4,500 square feet, all on one floor. It’s going to be spectacular, as he has a great architect.  If you want a wonderful contemporary house, we know two of them right now that are being built.
 
There is no zoning here in Valladolid. Our town mayor lives in a lovely house that is right across the street from a supermarket and next to his house is a store that sells children’s toys. There is no such thing as zoning and it doesn’t bother people.
 
The architecture here in general is old colonial and that is what attracts people. In the next block, we know a couple from Long Island who bought a part of a house, which by the way is not uncommon. These are huge big houses that are multigenerational that have been inherited are cut off into smaller houses. There is a nickname for them, which is “sausage houses” because they cut them into little pieces. Our friends bought one and a half pieces of a large house that had been cut off into five pieces. They still have several thousand square feet, a huge backyard, where they are in the process of putting in a swimming pool. But generally, the flavor of Valladolid is emphatically colonial.
 
In Cancun, the sky is the limit. As far as existing architecture, nothing exists in Cancun because the city itself is just around over 40 years old. There were only several hundred people in Cancun when Fornatur (the government agency) came in and expropriated the land and kicked them all out and built this planned community built around resorts, etc. You will find 10 to 12 million dollar homes there. Part of that is because of where they are. They are ocean-front or on the golf course. You will find high-rise condominiums there from US $200,000 up to several millions of dollars. Cancun is like Florida with a Mexican flavor. 
 
Merida is a place of over several million people. It is a town that grew on its own. There is no such thing as zoning in Merida. It has huge shopping centers, multiplex theaters with fifteen movie screens in them, mid-rise buildings such as hotels and office buildings. There are some lovely big, old colonial houses that were built anywhere between the 1800s and 1900s. There are also spectacular contemporary buildings because people spent a couple million dollars building them. The range is pretty much anything you want.

 

(Colorful street in Cancun, Mexico, pictured.)

 

The architecture in Yucatan is becoming more modern. That seems to be the way we’re going these days. The architecture is going away from the Mexican look to be more modern and clean—big windows, open spaces, granite and marble everywhere, especially in Playa del Carmen, where I live.

 

If you go to Merida, because Merida is a much older place, they have a lot of haciendas that were built a long time ago. They can be large haciendas that are walled in and...

The architecture in Yucatan is becoming more modern. That seems to be the way we’re going these days. The architecture is going away from the Mexican look to be more modern and clean—big windows, open spaces, granite and marble everywhere, especially in Playa del Carmen, where I live.

 

If you go to Merida, because Merida is a much older place, they have a lot of haciendas that were built a long time ago. They can be large haciendas that are walled in and you don’t even know they’re there. So typically, if someone’s going to buy something in Merida, they’re going to buy a hacienda most likely and that will be the old style. They’ll re-model it on the inside to make it a little more updated but it’s still going to have more of the Mexican hacienda look.  It’s a wall with a door and you have no idea what’s behind it and behind there will be a big house with a big property. There are amazing haciendas over there that you would never even know existed. Merida at one time was one of the wealthiest cities in the world, many, many years ago. So there was a lot of money—there’s still is a lot of money there. So you would find amazing things, amazing properties that you don’t even know are there as you’re walking by. 

 

Cancun is more modern. Playa del Carmen is more modern. These are all the new areas. So they are becoming the more modern looking areas. You’ll still have the odd person who will build a Mexican style residence but typically the modern look is the look that’s going on out here.  

 

(Modern open concept home in Yucatan, Mexico, pictured.)

The architecture in the Yucatan Peninsula varies from place to place. We have modern architecture like the ones in the Cancun area (basically, a new city) in the state of Quintana Roo. You would see high-rise buildings and condos there. When you go to Cancun, it’s just like being in the US.
 
When you go to Playa del Carmen (also in Quintana Roo), you will see a typical fisherman’s town that still has the original architectural style. It’s still very...

The architecture in the Yucatan Peninsula varies from place to place. We have modern architecture like the ones in the Cancun area (basically, a new city) in the state of Quintana Roo. You would see high-rise buildings and condos there. When you go to Cancun, it’s just like being in the US.
 
When you go to Playa del Carmen (also in Quintana Roo), you will see a typical fisherman’s town that still has the original architectural style. It’s still very Mediterranean. However, certain areas of Playa del Carmen are becoming more modernized with shopping malls and it is starting to look more like Cancun. Tulum (the next city to the south in Quintana Roo) is a very Mexican place and the kind of architecture that you will see there is what you would commonly see in a typical Mexican fisherman’s town. That is why people fall in love with Tulum. 
 
Merida (the largest city in the state of Yucatan) is a colonial city built in the 1500s, so when you come to Merida, you will see a wide range of architecture; from French architecture, to the original downtown area that was made by Spaniards, so it has Spanish architecture. There are also areas in Merida that have been progressing and the architecture does as well. Merida has areas that have a modern look now. It is not California style but it is cleaner. We have found that Americans are more inclined to the Tuscany style of architecture, which is what they expect when they come to Mexico. They look for something that is less modern, more welcoming, something that has arches, and made of wood. That is generally what we see after Americans remodel their houses in downtown Merida. However, since Merida is a colonial town, there are certain parts of the city that are controlled and you have ask for a special permit in order to do the remodeling of a house there. You have to keep the essential values such as the façade of the house. It is sometimes difficult to remodel these houses because it is very controlled, but at least someone does defend the heritage that Merida has.  

 

(Spanish architecture in Merida, Mexico, pictured.)