Casa Chata, Tlalpan

A historical building from the mid-18th century, the Casa Chata is most famous for having housed the Zapatista fighters during the Revolution.

The building has a well known 45-degree angle at the entrance. This explains the name which could be translated to something like “blunted house.”  The entire structure is built in an octagonal form.

The famous history of the building includes its beginnings as an 18th-century country house with a grand orchard and what were known to be outstanding gardens. It was later a Protestant seminary, and until 1960 a museum of charrería, a form of animal husbandry and a sport similar to western rodeos.

Today the building is used as the headquarters of a research and policy advocacy publisher, The Center for Research and Higher Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS). A distinguished leader in research and training in the fields of Social Anthropology, History and Linguistics, CIESAS offers five doctoral and six master’s degrees with programs that offer advanced training. The center also hosts ongoing seminars, diploma programs and conferences intended for the general public.

An important point in the Centro de Tlalpan, the Casa Chata not often open to the public, but it stands out for the corner it puts forward to the street.